Eye of Life
by ExoticAngel97
Summary: A year before the Nine Tails' Attack, a mysterious white-haired girl is found underneath the old tree in front of the Academy. The recently appointed Fourth Hokage decides to adopt her as his own child. He discovers that the young girl is unable to speak, thus naming her Shizuka. Namikaze Shizuka's eyes hold a secret to life that even the Death Reaper doesn't know.
1. Prologue: The Girl in the Rain

Prologue: The Girl in the Rain

* * *

One rainy morning in late June, the newly appointed Fourth Hokage was strolling with his predecessor to set up his new office. The well-aged Sarutobi would chuckle every now and then at the golden-haired man before replying to his words.

"You are one lucky man, Minato. Biwako would never make me a cloak even if I begged her," the Third Hokage looked up at the cloudy skies as they approached the small, wooden doors that would lead to the Academy building.

Minato smiled sheepishly before lightly tugging on the thin red string that held his white cloak in place. "Kushina insisted. I couldn't say anything even if I wanted to."

"Well, well. Woman have their days," Hiruzen uncrossed his arms with a hearty laugh. Minato's shoulders tightened when a chilly breeze, at least for the summer, blew between the two of them. He shifted his grip on the large umbrella that shielded them from the cold rain that had begun to fall at a faster rate. "Speaking of, have you and Kushina thought of how many children yet?"

The younger male twisted his head to the side in surprise, his jaw-length bangs swaying as he moved, a slight blush appearing on his pale cheeks. "I-i-it's too soon, Lord Third!"

Again, the middle-aged Sarutobi gave another friendly laugh. "Please, drop the honorifics. The village is still asleep, no one would mind."

He took another step towards the locked door of the Academy, pulling out his own set of keys that he would soon hand over to the new Hokage. Realizing that his fellow shinobi hadn't moved when he felt the absence at his side, he turned back to look at the Yellow Flash. "Minato?"

The golden-haired man had stopped a few feet away, his head turned to look at something. Turning his head to see what it was, Hiruzen's eyes landed on a small girl, wrapped up in a thin gray blanket. Her long, pure white hair reminded the elder man of his own sensei's hair. A clear and clean white, the color of freshly fallen, untouched snow.

Minato slowly approached the sleeping girl, kneeling by her side. His large hand lightly shook her small bare shoulder; her skin was freezing cold despite the warmth of the summer. With his other hand, the Yellow Flash pulled the rain-soaked blanket off of the girl.

At that moment, the girl's eyes fluttered open. Her large silvery eyes looked into his bright, sky-blue ones with great curiosity. When she lifted a small hand up to touch his long blonde strands, her other hand unconsciously gripped the edge of the gray blanket tightly. A small tear slipped from her clear eyes as she stared at the young man, holding his attention for what seemed like the longest time. Her eyes told him a story of sorrow and pain, captivating the young man.

"Minato."

Snapping away from the girl, the Fourth Hokage turned his attention the older Sarutobi. Pulling the blanket away, he picked up the small girl in his arms. "What's your name?" Minato spoke softly to the girl, but she only blinked at him with no reply. The snowy-haired girl didn't even open her mouth to try to answer; her eyebrows pulled together, as if she didn't understand what he was saying.

When she didn't make any move to communicate, lightning flashed across the sky. Another tear flowed down from her unclouded eyes and the droplets of water seemed to get heavier.

"Why don't we get you inside?" Minato spoke in a hushed tone to the young girl, holding her to his chest tightly. He tried to remove the wet blanket from her hands, but she refused to part with it. Sighing, the Fourth Hokage followed after the Third inside, deep in thought about this strange girl.


	2. Ch 1 : The Nine Tails Attack

Chapter 1: The Nine Tails Attack

* * *

The autumn breeze blew through the opened window with the moonlight shining through. There was a yellow flash and a lean, golden-haired man appeared in the center of the room, holding a small bundle of cloth in his arms. A small girl peeks at the man from behind the wooden doorframe. He has his back turned to her as he lays the bundle in the crib.

"You'll be safe here," the blond man spoke softly as he pulled the white blankets up to cover the bundle. "Just wait here. I'll be right back, Naruto. I have to go save your mom right now.

With another flash of yellow, the man was gone. The little girl stood for a few minutes, observing the small bundle. She took a step, but flinched back when the Yellow Flash returned. Continuing her observations behind the door frame, the girl watched as the golden-haired man laid down a woman with beautiful red hair inside the large crib also.

"Why…?" the woman's voice sounded worn-out, her breath came in small pants.

"It's fine…you're with Naruto now…" the man pulled the covers up over the red-haired woman as she cradled something in her trembling hands.

"…Naruto…" her breathing shook as she spoke. "Minato… Thank you…go now…"

The little girl moved back a bit, when the man turned around and reached into the closet. He pulled out a green flak jacket with a red swirl symbol on the back and slipped it on. His hand disappeared inside the closet again, this time pulling out a short-sleeved, long, white cloak. After putting the cloak on, he wrapped the village's signature forehead protector around his head, underneath his jaw-length bangs and over his forehead. He turned, the Konoha symbol gleaming in the moonlight when he moved. The girl watched the flames on the edge of his cloak as he moved, making them flicker. The words, "Yondaime Hokage" were printed on his back.

"I'll be back soon…"

Another flash and Minato was gone.

This time, the girl wasted no time to run over to the side of the crib. Her small arms reached through the bars of the crib, desperately grabbing at the air.

'Oka-san…' the girl thought in her mind, even though no one could hear her.

"Shi…Shizuka," the red-haired woman smiled the best she could as she held the little girl's small hands. "My little Shi-chan…"

Shizuka closed her eyes, tightening her hold on the woman's hand. A mark across her forehead appeared and glowed a faded red. The red-head's eyes automatically scanned the unique mark. It was similar to the "curse" of the Hyuuga Clan's Branch family; however it did not seem to seal anything away. Both she and Minato have been trying to find out more about this mark for the past year–ever since this little girl had moved in with them.

"Shi-chan…this is…Naruto," she whispered as she caressed the top of Shizuka's small hand. She could feel a bit of strength return to her the longer the little girl held onto her hand, "you will…will be his sister…you have to take care of him with Minato, okay?"

A stray tear rolled down the little girl's cheek. She shook her head and opened her eyes. They sparkled in the moonlight, their normal silvery glint had changed to black, a glowing red swirl marked her black irises, similar to the glowing mark on her forehead. The girl's eyes were layered with a thin layer of tears, silently telling the red-haired woman that she wanted–no, needed–her to stay. The dark shadows underneath the woman's eyes, that pronounced the approach of her death, started to become lighter as Shizuka held tightly onto her hand. There was faint, throbbing silver glow where their hands met, but it was barely noticeable.

Shizuka's head snapped up all of a sudden. She released the woman's hand before running to the side of the crib, and crouching there to stay hidden.

Minato flashed into the room again, he picked up the child along with the exhausted red-head. "I have a plan, Kushina."

Right when he was about to flash off again, Shizuka jumped out silently and grabbed a small handful of Minato's cloak tightly. The little girl shut her eyes lightly and a second later, she found herself in a clearing surrounded by trees. In front of her crouched her adopted family. The two adults were out of breath, both of their chakras were running extremely low.

"I have to get a barrier up as soon as possible..." Minato managed to pant out. Kushina looked up at him, her hands on his arm.

"I can...still fight...Minato..." she panted.

As soon as she finished talking, five chains shot out from beneath her red hair and into the solid ground. Shizuka slowly glanced skyward as the chains flew around, making a barrier around them. A roar echoed through the valley and the little girl recognized the orange-furred beast. It's nine tails swiped at the ground, destroying the forest behind it. It was the infamous Nine Tailed Demon Fox.

Shizuka snapped back to the conversation between her parents; both had not noticed that the young girl had decided to tag along instead of staying in the safe house they had moved her too before Naruto's birth.

"I'm going to draw...the Kyuubi in...in my dying...breath," Kushina looked up at her husband, a confident, fearless gleam in her eyes despite the blood already dripping from her mouth. "That way... I can put off...the Kyuubi's revival. That's the only way the last of my remaining chakra can help you..." When she saw Kushina's smile, Shizuka broke into silent tears. "Thank you...for everything."

"Kushina...you..." Minato fell silent as Naruto continued to wail, as any newborn baby would do in such a situation. He began again, "you made me the Yondaime Hokage...you made me a man...and you made me this child's father...and yet–"

"Minato... Don't look like that," Kushina spoke softly to him, her smile still present. "I'm... I"m happy... You...love me and...it's his birthday today..." Her eyes opened, the shadows were back. "And most importantly...when... I think about... what our life would be like...together...if I lived... I can only picture happiness."

Tears streaked down the blonde's face as she continued.

"If there's...one thing I'll regret... It would be that I won't get to see... Naruto grow up..."

There was silence between them, Shizuka covered her mouth with her small hands, locking her soundless sobs within. Her eyes jerked up when Minato spoke again.

"Kushina, there's no need for you to die with the Kyuubi. Use your remaining chakra so you can be reunited with Naruto...!"

"Huh?" The tired, red-head looked at her husband in confusion.

"I will seal your remaining chakra inside Naruto with an Eight Trigrams Seal," he looked up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I'll take the Kyuubi down with me. And since I'm not a jinchuriki, I can use the Shiki Fujin."

Kushina's eyes widened at the mention of the horrid seal. She began to protest, fear finally showing in her eyes. "But with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal–"

"There's one more thing...I can only seal half of the Nine Tails' power...It's just not physically possible to seal it completely... nor is it strategically feasible either. If you took down the Kyuubi with you, there won't be another jinchuriki until he is revived and the Bijuu balance will be thrown out of order. With the Shiki Fujin, I can seal half the Kyuubi's power forever and the other half..." he looked down at the baby boy in his arms. "I will seal within Naruto."

Kushina argued back about his point, not wanting Naruto to live such a painful and lonely life, but Minato wouldn't have it. He had to win this argument, not for himself, not for her, but for the entire village and for Naruto. Minato began the sequence of hand seals for the Shiki Fujin and just as he was about to finish, a small hand strongly grabbed his arm, stopping him.

The young Hokage looked at the hand that had stopped him to see a young, white-haired girl. "Shizuka..."

The speechless girl shook her head, holding her father closely, as if to say, 'don't leave me alone. Don't leave Naruto either...'

"Shizuka..." Minato pulled away, brushing the girl's smooth white hair away from her face. "This is so you can live in peace. I'm sorry, but–"

Shizuka cut him off by shaking her head violently and pushing herself away from the golden-haired man. She faced the Demon Fox, clasping her tiny hands together in a rather tight and neat tiger seal, for a child her age. Her eyes had changed back to the black and red swirl again, the swirl glowing brightly. Her mark reappeared, shining brighter than ever before. Her body glowed as well as her eyes closed in concentration. She could feel a foreign energy seeping through her as red marks swirled around her arms, almost as if burning her skin.

When Shizuka opened her eyes again, the Nine Tails was noticeably smaller, about half its original size. She staggered a bit, feeling the heavy amount of chakra she had just absorbed. Minato caught her just as she fell with his free arm. Her small chest rose and fell in silent, deep breaths.

As the baby in his opposite arm wailed, the young girl reached out with a glowing hand, shaking even when it rested on the baby's forehead. From the spot she touched a warm red glow enveloped the newborn, and his cries ceased to small sniffles.

"What is this?!" the Demon Fox bellowed when his significantly smaller body was enveloped by the same warm glow. "A sealing!? You insolent little–"

Cut off by the tightening of the chains around him, the fearsome beast roared with all his might, sending a flock of birds flying into the air; he struggled to free himself as his body continually shrank and faded into transparency. As the Kyuubi shrunk in size, marks identical to the swirls on Shizuka curled around the baby and a prominent seal on his stomach appeared; its appearance was similar to an Eight Trigrams Seal.

It was over now. All that was physically left of the Nine Tails was his large paw prints and the knocked over forest where his tails had swept. Shizuka's eyes were heavy and in dire need of rest. The glow and the marks on baby Naruto slowly faded away as did the mark on Shizuka's forehead. The intricate weavings on her arms faded slowly, but wouldn't disappear fully until a month later.

Kushina's barrier had dissolved into thin air, the golden Chakra Chains shattering into tiny pieces. Konoha's Medical squad rushed to the scene, several taking their spot beside the unconscious former jinchuriki. Medical-Chakra-encased hands placed themselves over Kushina's wounds, applying as much first-aid as possible to help.

The last thing Shizuka saw before falling into the darkness of sleep was her baby brother's smiling face and her mother being carried away on a makeshift stretcher by two medic-nins.


	3. Ch 2: The Uchiha

Chapter 2 : The Uchiha

* * *

Water trickled down the stone fountain and into the small pond out in the yard.

A small boy, about five and a half years old, slowly slid open the paper doors as quietly as he could. He peeked through the crack he had made to see the white-haired girl sleeping peacefully. Someone shoved the peeking boy lightly.

"Tach, hurry up! What if Uncle Fugaku catches us?!"

The peeking boy turned around to the other, the tips of his growing black hair shifting in the night breeze. The boy who had shoved him had shorter, unkempt hair; the wild strands refused to be tamed so his mother had always left it that way.

"Shh," the peeking boy held a finger to his lips as he shushed the other. "If you say another word, Otou-sama really _will_ hear you!"

After looking both ways, the boy opened the door wider and slipped inside; with a frown, the other boy followed him inside. Both of them cautiously made their way over to the large mat that served as the little girl's bed.

"Neh, Tach–"

"Shisui-nii," Itachi scolded the louder boy with a hiss. Shisui brought his hands up in defense and continued in a softer voice.

"Itachi, you told me she's been asleep for three days right?" the boy nodded. "Do you think she...she will...you know...wake up?"

Itachi glowered at his cousin, "this is Shizuka, nii-san. She's strong. Oka-sama said she's going to wake up soon."

Shisui sighed. Itachi may be his best friend, but sometimes he really didn't understand him. "So what are we doing here?"

Feeling it unnecessary to answer him, Itachi slipped under the covers with the little girl causing the older boy to raise an eyebrow.

"What _are_ you doing, Tach?!" Shisui's eyes widened in alarm when his cousin had slipped underneath. The long-haired boy shushed him.

"I'm going to sleep here."

"Itachi, you're crazy! Come on, let's go back!" But the younger refused to budge, even when his cousin grabbed his arm. Shisui growled in frustration, he had never seen the younger so stubborn before. Itachi shook his head, firmly, but gently, placing his arm around the sleeping girl.

Running a hand through his already-messy hair, Shisui let go of his cousin's arm. He had promised to spend the night with his favorite cousin so they could stay up all night and play, _not_ so they could stay up all night to watch a white-haired girl sleep!

"Fine. I'm heading back to your room," the older made a face before walking back towards the door. "If Uncle Fugaku yells at you, I'm not helping you!"

The upset seven-year old walked back to his cousin's bedroom, leaving the two others alone. Itachi smiled, glad that his noisy best friend was gone now. He propped himself up with one arm, using the other to brush a few stray, silvery strands away from the sleeping girl's face, just like he had seen his father do to his mother once.

"Neh, Shizu-chan, when you wake up I'll take you wherever you want with Shisui-nii," Itachi spoke softly to the girl. "Wake up soon...please..."

Closing his weary eyes, the five-year-old boy pulled himself closer to the girl. Soon, he too fell asleep.

The very next morning, a long, dark-haired woman had just finished dressing herself when her bedroom door was slid open. She pulled her hairbrush through her thick hair one last time before placing it down.

"Fugaku, I thought you left?" she turned around to find, not her husband, but a small boy with crazy, ebony hair.

"Aunt Mikoto, where's Tach?" the boy asked, rubbing his tired eyes. In a few quick strides, she knelt down beside the child.

"What do you mean, sweetheart? Weren't you two together?" Mikoto placed her hands on the tired boy's shoulders as he shook his head.

"I dunno..."

Frowning, Mikoto stood up and took his hand, walking down the length of the house. Itachi's bedroom door was left open from Shisui's departure; the owner of the room was nowhere to be seen.

A few minutes of just standing in the doorway, the dark-haired woman recalled her husband's words from the night before about taking their first son to work today.

Sighing in relief, Mikoto picked up the short-haired boy before making her way to one of the guest rooms. Along the way she calmly explained to her nephew that his best friend had gone with her husband to the KPF Headquarters today.

Her own best friend's husband had asked her to watch over their adopted first child while his other child and wife were being cared for in the hospital. Knowing full well of the young girl's dislike of the nurses in the hospital, Mikoto had happily accepted the favor without a single problem. Being the main heir of the Uchiha Clan's wife, she lived in the largest manor in the Uchiha Compound. Space had been no problem for their guest. Not only that, her family was already quite familiar with the new Namikaze family.

When she opened the door, Mikoto realized that their families may have been _too_ familiar with each other. Curled up underneath the white blankets with Shizuka was her eldest son, Itachi. The two small children were snuggled quite comfortably under the blankets.

It wasn't until Shisui shifted in her arms that Mikoto remembered what she was coming to do. She placed her young nephew on the ground as she knelt down beside her son.

The young Uchiha slowly opened his eyes when his mother shook him once. However, what shocked her was that the little, white-haired girl shifted when Itachi sat up. Her hands grabbed at the spot Itachi had been sleeping earlier only to find air and cloth. She frowned, furrowing her light eyebrows as she opened her silvery eyes slowly.

The first thing little Shizuka's eyes landed on was the boy who had been by her side. Almost immediately, she threw her arms around him, shocking everyone else as well. A now _very_ awake Itachi was knocked back slightly, slowly wrapping his arms around the little girl. Her grip tightened and her shoulders moved as if she were sobbing. The five-year-old Uchiha gave his mother a confused look and the kunoichi took this as her cue to take the little girl into her arms. She gently ran her fingers through Shizuka's silky, pale hair as she shushed her with calming words.

"Shh...did you have a bad dream, Shizu-chan?" the girl only nodded as she buried her face deeper into the woman's apron. Itachi frowned, feeling upset that his presence alone was not enough to comfort her.

After Shizuka had calmed down a bit, Itachi asked his mother, "Oka-sama, can we go to the park? I promised–"

"Tach," Shisui frowned, placing a hand on the younger's shoulder.

"Itachi," his mother spoke sternly, causing the two children to stop before they could speak to each other. "We're taking her to the hospital."

"But...why? She's completely health–"

"To see her little brother of course," Mikoto helped little Shizuka stand up, straightening the young girl's nightdress a bit. The former jonin kept her eyes on the small girl, fixing up her hair as she listened to her son.

"But–"

"Itachi, remember when you first got to see Sasuke?"

The addressed boy fell silent, realizing the seriousness of this situation only now. Mikoto couldn't help but laugh a little when she saw the guilty look on her son's face.

"Go get changed, Itachi–you too, Shisui–then meet me at the front doors," Mikoto gently smiled at the two boys who nodded before running off to the younger one's room. Shaking her head, the dark-haired kunoichi led the silent girl to the bathroom to get her washed up and changed. Mikoto could only smile as she helped Shizuka into a new dress.

She had always wanted a daughter, but she was already very content with her two sons. Sasuke would grow up to be a wonderful shinobi (like his namesake) and Itachi was already a brilliant one himself, even for an Uchiha.


	4. Ch 3: A New Generation of Shinobi

Chapter 3 : A New Generation of Shinobi

* * *

Half an hour later, Shisui sat at the front steps of the house, checking the materials in his backpack: scrolls, brush, ink, new set of kunai and shurikens. Itachi watched as his older cousin prepared for his big day with his shoes half-on. Shisui plunged his hand into his backpack as if searching for something again.

"You look like you want to say something, Tach," he glanced at his cousin. Itachi had one hand on his shoe that he had barely slipped on.

"Neh, nii-san. Is the Academy hard?" the younger one finally asked. Shisui gave a smile that seemed to make him look older.

"It's not hard at all. It's a lot easier than the way Uncle Fugaku trains us."

Itachi nodded thoughtfully. "Even when all those kids are so much older? Aren't they mean?"

"Mmm..." Shisui laughed as he thought. "They can be mean, but you just have to make friends. I only have one, but really...Ran is all I need."

"Ran?" Itachi tilted his head to the side in curiosity. The older boy nodded his head slowly, as if in thought.

"Inuzuka Ran. She carries a little black pup and a white one in her hoodie. The black one is Kiiroimaru and the white one is Aoimaru. She says they're twins," Shisui closed the latch on his backpack and leaned back after his final check. "She spars with me sometimes. You shouldn't ever get her angry. I heard she's almost as bad as Lady Kushina when she gets angry–put on your shoes already."

Itachi quickly slipped on his shoes. Shisui was about to continue when Shizuka bounded up to them, wearing a small, purple qipao dress with black leggings that stopped at her mid-calf. Her white hair was tied up in a high ponytail, with a light pink lily stuck in the ribbon used to tie her hair up. Pale bangs, which Itachi had never noticed before, framed the sides of her face.

She turned around and looked behind her left shoulder as if to ask the boys how she looked. A small Uchiha Clan symbol was sewed on the upper back of the dress, close to her neck. Judging by the looks of it, Itachi could tell that it was one of his mother's old dresses from when _she_ had been a child.

"You...you look really pretty," Shisui was the first to talk, making her blush at his compliment. She turned back around to face them, her cheeks tinted with pink. Itachi continued to stare in wonder until she waved a small hand in front of his face.

"Uh...oh, y-yeah!" Itachi felt like hitting himself for such a dumb response and Shisui chuckled at his tongue-tied best friend. "Very p-pretty."

The older Uchiha muffled his laughs with the back of his hand. He had never seen his calm and cool cousin so flustered before. Shisui paused a moment in his laughs, letting his eyes land on the young Namikaze once again. His entire thinking of her had suddenly changed. Never before had he ever thought she was pretty or cute in anything! He had always been jealous of Itachi's attention on her, as any best friend would be at his age. Shisui chuckled again, this time at himself for being so stupid before.

"What's so funny, Shisui-kun?" standing behind Shizuka was Mikoto, her long, dark hair was all placed over one shoulder so that it wouldn't fall into the baby's face in her arms.

"Nothing, Auntie!" Shisui immediately stood up straight. "But Shizuka-chan looks really pretty."

The loud jokester, Shisui, had spoken softly with his compliment, his cheeks turning a bit rosy. Mikoto held in a laugh when she saw her oldest son. Itachi had turned away from everyone, trying to hide his own rosy cheeks, but he could never hide _anything_ from his mother. It was also nice to see different sides of these boys.

"Are you boys ready to go?" Mikoto slipped on her shoes, sliding the front door open. Outside the house, men, women and children were walking about. Some were in their regular attire while others wore their combat clothes.

"Yes, Oka-sama."

"Yes, Auntie."

And the group set out with Mikoto leading the three younger children. Along the way, she stopped once in a while to chat with a few friends. Itachi took Shizuka's hand in his when they walked out of the house. Shisui lagged behind, puffing out his cheeks in boredom every now and then.

They had just turned out of the Uchiha compound when another kid ran into Shizuka, making her trip forward. None of the others could tell, but she felt a wave of dizziness hit her at that moment. Her eyes felt heavy, and her breathing became slightly shallow. It was almost as if a heavy burden suddenly dropped onto her shoulders.

'_You will regret your actions, Namikaze Shizuka..._' a deep, ominous voice echoed in her mind. Shizuka gripped her forehead, unaware of the hands that had caught her. A few moments later, she looked up. Her silvery eyes met the dark ones of Itachi's as he asked her if she was okay. On her other side, Shisui knelt down so that she could lean on his shoulder.

"Shizu-chan, are you okay?" Itachi held her steady to make sure she wouldn't fall off of his cousin's shoulder. When she didn't make a move to answer, he knelt down in front of her. I'll give you a ride then."

Slowly, Shizuka wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on the back of Itachi's shoulder. Shisui watched in interest as his cousin attempted to stand up. On his first try, Itachi lost his balance slightly. On his second, he couldn't catch her legs quickly enough. On his third try, he barely managed it, but ended up tilting slightly to the right, about to fall over. The seven-year-old Uchiha laughed just as he used his stronger arms to gently pick up Shizuka.

"How about I carry her today?" Itachi straightened up when Shizuka's weight had been taken off of his back. He turned around and watched as the white-haired girl climbed on his cousin's back. Itachi frowned when he saw how easily Shisui lifted her on his back. The older Uchiha shifted her weight a bit before walking forward smoothly.

It was from that moment on that Itachi swore to himself that he would get stronger. Strong enough to protect _everyone_: Shizuka, Sasuke, Shisui, even his mom and dad.

Realizing that he wasn't following, Shisui turned around to face him. "Tach, come on! We're gonna leave without you!"

The five-year-old pouted before running to catch up. When Shizuka saw him coming, she reached her small pale hand out. Confused at what she wanted since he didn't have anything to give her, Itachi blinked at the hand. Feeling the loss of pressure on one shoulder, the older Uchiha turned his head, only to laugh at his best friend's naiveness.

"Looks like she wants to hold your hand, Tach."

Hesitantly, the younger boy reached out and Shizuka grabbed it, holding his slightly larger hand as tightly as she could. The quiet girl's grip on his hand was very gentle, but also very firm. Itachi's eyes scanned her, wondering where she could get all that power from her tiny physique.

They walked in companionable silence for a while, following behind Mikoto and another brunette woman holding a weaved basket as they talked. The trio finally reached the Academy and Shisui set the silent girl down on the old wooden swing in the big tree in front of the Academy entrance. When he made a move to step away, she grabbed his arm and shook her head to tell him not to go yet.

Just at that moment, a harmony of barks approached them. A small, black puppy sprinted towards the three of them. There was a jagged, sandy patch of fur on it's back that loosely resembled a lightning bolt. Behind it, a more cautious white pup, that was slightly smaller, followed suit.

Shisui knelt down beside Shizuka and the black pup jumped onto him, resting itself on his shoulder with its front paws on the Uchiha's head. Itachi watched the interaction from behind Shizuka on the swing. Shisui laughed in amusement and the white pup ran over to join in, placing its paws on the boy's propped up thigh.

Moments later, a girl with brown hair in a high ponytail ran up to them. She had large red, fang-like marks on her cheeks, symbolizing her clan heritage. The girl was slightly taller than Shisui, but she had a noticeably older look. Despite her sharp black eyes with vertical, slitted pupils and pronounced sharp canine teeth, she had a friendly aura around her. As soon as she appeared, the two pups seemed to forget the joyful Uchiha and trotted back over to the girl.

"Sorry about these two, they can get really out of hand at times," the girl bowed in apology as she gathered the pups in her arms. The squirming puppies soon jumped over her shoulder and into her fur-lined hood. As soon as they were away from her arms, the girl turned back to them. "Well, that was rude of me. I'm Ran."

Shisui muffled a laugh behind the back of his hand as he stood up, but immediately quieted down when the girl threw a glare his way.

"Well Ran, this is my cousin, Itachi–he'll be entering the Academy soon–and his friend," he shook his head. "...I mean _our_ friend, Shizuka. I'm sure you know of her. She saved–"

"Shisui-nii," Itachi said sternly, reminding his cousin. The older Uchiha laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

The two boys overheard "top secret" information when Itachi's parents had talked to the Hokage when he dropped Shizuka off. This "top secret" information was the mystery of Shizuka sealing the Kyuubi.

"Heh, never mind..." Shisui awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. If Ran minded the secret the two Uchihas were keeping from her, she didn't show it.

Soon after, a bell was tolled and the two older children looked in the direction of the Academy. Ran tapped the heads of her pups to keep them down in her hoodie. Shisui gave his cousin a pat on the head and Shizuka a pat on the shoulder with a warm smile.

"I'll see you two after class," he gave the two of them his signature goofy smile. Ran turned around with a wave of her hand.

"You ready for the test?" Ran smirked at him.

Shisui bit his lip, shrugging his shoulders. "As ready as I'll ever be..."

"I'll race 'ya, Sui," she smirked at him. He gave her an equally complacent look.

"Oh, you're on."

And the two sprinted off towards their school.

A slow breeze blew through the towering tree in the center of the hospital courtyard, knocking a few of the autumn-kissed leaves loose from its branches. The rectangular windows of the hospital ward on the second floor were slid open so that the baby blue curtains flowed in the autumn breeze. A red-haired woman was sitting upright with a bundle of orange cloth in her arms. She leaned down to kiss the baby boy bundled up in her arms.

"Kushina," a voice called out to her from the door. She turned her head to the golden-haired male who had spoken to her so sweetly..

The man was in the ordinary jonin uniform, with a green, Leaf Village flak jacket and navy pants. He had grey sleeves with two bands on each arm, and a navy blue hitai-ate was tied across his forehead. Dirt marked his face, making his light blue eyes more prominent.

"Minato," she smiled. "You're finally back."

Within twelve hours of the Nine Tails' attack, there had been a report of an assault on border of the Land of Fire and Amegakure. The force of Hidden Rain shinobi had been small, but it didn't mean that it wasn't a threat to the citizens of the Land of Fire. Minato had teleported out to the border's post, into the midst of the battle. Luckily no lives were lost on their sides during that attacked. Some injured, but no casualties.

Minato took three long strides and sat down on her hospital bed. He had a childish grin on his face when he saw the blond baby in his wife's arms. Kushina giggled at his expression and reached a free hand over to swipe the dirt off of his face.

"A shower would've done you some good, '_ttebane_..."

The man chuckled at her accent and a slight blush crept up her face as she realized the speech habit she had been trying to contain slipped out again.

"I wanted to see you first," he whispered to her before taking her hand and kissing the top of it as if she were a queen. And she was a queen...at least in his eyes. "Has Shizuka come to visit yet?"

Kushina shook her head, "Mikoto tells me that one of the Uchiha's medical-nins said that she is all healthy. However, she hasn't woken up yet."

The Fourth Hokage frowned. He reached his hand up to fix his wife's hair, re-clipping her bangs away from her eyes. "You have beautiful hair, Kushi..."

The woman's blush came close to the color of her hair. "Stop it..."

"What?!" Minato's innocent expression hid the smirk beneath it. "It is!"

The kunoichi made a face and weakly punched his shoulder, he shifted a bit and laughed. "As I was going to say–before your _beautiful_ hair distracted me–" he chuckled when she punched his shoulder again, with an even brighter blush. "I'll go visit the Uchiha after this."

"No need for that, _Lord Fourth_."

A little girl with bright, white hair ran into the room, dragging along a boy with midnight black hair. A woman with long hair, similar in color to the boy's, stood at the door with a bundle of blue cloth in her arms.

The lady had a light smirk on her lips as a result from her sarcastic use of her former classmate's formal title. "Your little princess was awoken by a kiss this morning."

Kushina's eyes widened in surprise and her gaze flew to the clueless little boy. "Mikoto! You don't mean Itachi–"

Mikoto burst out into laughter. "Kushina, you...you really thought...he would...kiss her?!" she spoke between laughs. "They're so young!"

It took a few moments for the thought to register in the red-head's mind. The white-haired girl struggled to crawl up the off-white bedsheets, so Minato grabbed her beneath her arms and easily lifted her up to his wife.

"UCHIHA MIKOTO!" Kushina's eyes flared with anger, making the Uchiha almost regret her joke. _Almost._

"K-Kushina...c-calm down..."

If there was anything that made the fearless Yellow Flash of Konoha fearful and full of panic, that would be a certain angered Uzumaki named Kushina.

Just as she was about to lash out, Shizuka peeked over her arm to see a sleeping blond baby with faint whisker-like marks on his cheeks from living with the presence of the Kyuubi within his mother. The Red-Hot Habanero immediately calmed down, speaking to her young daughter softly.

"Do you want to hold him, Shi-chan?"

Shizuka's smile widened and she held out her small arms eagerly. Minato chuckled at the young girl's eagerness and patted her head lightly.

"Sit properly, Shizuka."

Almost immediately, the snow-haired girl sat up, closer to her mother, and waited. Kushina slowly handed over the bundle of orange cloth and with gentle words, she taught Shizuka how to hold the baby properly as she moved her arms.

"Naruto is your little brother, Shi-chan," Kushina grinned widely when she noticed how Shizuka's eyes shone brightly. "You have to take care of him, _dattebane_."

She nodded before looking over at her best friend, but Itachi shyly avoided her gaze. Noticing this, Minato waved him over from his spot in the center of the white room.

"Do you want to see little Naruto, Itachi-kun?"

Itachi looked up at the Hokage and then at his mother as if asking permission. Mikoto took his hand with her free one and led him over to her friend's bed. The young Hokage lifted the five-year-old boy up to sit beside Shizuka. The small girl shifted the baby in her arms a bit so that her best friend could see.

At that moment, baby Naruto's eyes opened to reveal mischievous, shining light blue orbs. Naruto's lips curved up into a smile and he began to giggle. Seeing this, Shizuka gave a silent giggle herself and kissed her new baby brother's forehead. The baby's tiny hands grabbed the mute girl's nose and she stared at the weak hand that grabbed onto her as firmly as it could.

"Hi, Naruto-kun," Shizuka turned her head to see Itachi leaning forward. "I hope you can be good friends with Sasuke, just like me and your sister!"

The white-haired girl's eyes softened in happiness at the young Uchiha's words. With a chuckle, Minato ruffled Itachi's hair firmly.

"Come on, Itachi. We need to take your brother back home. You should let Lady Kushina have some time with her family," the wink from Mikoto went unnoticed by everyone but Kushina.

The two young toddlers exchanged disappointed looks, but moments later. Itachi's expression changed. "I'll see you later, Shizu-chan!"

He left Shizuka with a gentle kiss on the cheek before running after Sasuke and his mom. Minato and Kushina were both shocked by the closeness between the two as they watched Shizuka wave to Itachi's retreating back, almost as if she were used to the idea of Itachi's goodbye kiss.


	5. Ch 4: The Hokage

Chapter 4: The Hokage's Daughter

* * *

Small green leaves swirled around a small girl as she sat atop the Hokage Monument. Her eyes were closed in meditation, her body was relaxed and her breathing was even. She could feel the gathered chakra swirling within herself, the feeling of it was strangely comforting.

"Shizuka."

The addressed girl turns her head to see her golden-haired father, dressed in his Hokage attire. She smiles faintly before uncrossing her legs and unclasping the unique hand sign her hands had created.

"Are you ready?" Minato took a few steps so that he was standing right behind his daughter. She nodded her head, and he smiled. "Now, don't be worried if you get dizzy after you try this. I was like that the first few times also."

Again, the white-haired girl nodded her head slowly and the man was gone just as quickly as he had appeared. Shizuka stood up, picking up a three-pronged kunai that had been sitting next to her. Eyeing the strangely-shaped throwing knife in her hand, the young girl tossed it between her nimble fingers as if testing its weight.

To many others, this kunai was slightly heavier than the manufactured ones that everyone else uses, but to Shizuka–and Minato—the dissimilarweight made no difference.

Glancing across the large village known as Konohagakure, the girl kept her eyes opened and in a flash she was gone.

On the other side of the village, at the grand entrance, a gust of wind sweeps several leaves past the center of the gateway. In the midst of the slow-going traffic of traveling citizens and shinobi, a small girl with pure white hair that reached the middle of back suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Standing with the two chunins at the check-in post, Minato turns around when he feels the familiar chakra signature. Shizuka is staring up at the top edge of the gateway, oblivious to the traffic flowing by her.

Furrowing his light eyebrows, Minato pauses from explaining a special step to one of the Chunins. He looks at the kunai he has in his hand and then to the one dangling on the side of the check-in booth. Shizuka had teleported to neither of the two locations. She had somehow teleported to a space with no mark, which was supposedly impossible for this technique.

That wasn't the only strange thing. When Shizuka had arrived, he had immediately turned to look at her. However, when she flashed to that spot, the small girl showed no signs of dizziness. She had stood straight up, her hand gripping the specially-made kunai he had given her earlier. It was almost as if she had used the technique several times before. The Fourth Hokage remembered being dizzy the first million times he had performed this S-Ranked technique. It was a technique that had once been forbidden to all–and still is—before Minato had mastered the use of it himself.

The mystery of the young girl's teleportation was pushed aside, when Shizuka turned to face her father. The Hokage gave her a smile before waving her over and turning back to the two chunins to finish explaining.

Shizuka stood next to her much taller father, waiting patiently for him to talk to her. As she did so, she closed her eyes. It was as if something hit her when she remembered a stern, deep voice telling her: "the mark of the Hiraishin never disappears once it is drawn. It is very crucial that you remember that..."

"Shizuka?"

The young girl's eyes snap open and she turns to look up at the Yellow Flash. His clear blue eyes stare down at her. Her mind desperately tries to match the voice she remembered to a name, but it was definitely not this man standing before her.

"Shizuka, are you feeling okay?"

Slowly, she nods before taking his larger hand with two of her smaller ones. Shizuka steps closer, hiding behind his large white cloak and peeking at the two Leaf shinobi looking at her with awe. She fingered the cuffs of Minato's gray sleeves absent-mindlessly as she listened to him and the two chunins.

"She is adorable, Lord Fourth!" The woman exclaims as she clasps her hands together. "Is she in the Academy yet?"

The proud father just smiled and shook his head lightly. "No, in a few more months she'll be taking the placement test with her age group."

The man beside her nods his head, his small accent tripping over his tongue as he speaks, "she holds great promise to becoming a prestigious shinobi such as yourself."

Minato rubs the back of his neck with a sheepish smile out of habit, "you flatter me, Myungsoo..."

The chunin just gives a small smile and shakes his head. "The 'Yellow Flash' is a well-earned moniker, Lord Hokage."

Myungsoo catches the eyes of the silver-eyed girl as he finishes speaking. She gives him a shy smile to which he returns. His attention turns back to the village leader when he speaks, "well, I'll leave you to your gate-work, Myungsoo. If you have any questions feel free to ask me."

Before another word can be uttered between them, Minato has flashed off, Shizuka with him. The daughter-father pair arrive at the front door of the well-known Hokage Mansion.

The Hokage's Mansion is a building that towers three-stories high above the shops around it. The lowest level consists of the kitchen, dining room and a door that lead to a network of underground passages beneath the entire village. The second level holds the Hokage's home office and bedroom as well as a wide space that would usually hold parties and Meetings. The third and final floor holds three guest rooms and Shizuka and Naruto's bedrooms, conjoined by a shared bathroom.

Minato pulls out his keys and unlocks the front door, Shizuka slips in quickly once it is opened just a crack. As she is taking off her sandals, the small girl realizes that there are four extra pairs of traditional shinobi sandals in one corner. Three of them are just a bit bigger than her size, but one was just as big as her father's. Minato stares after his daughter in confusion when she darts into the empty kitchen and the small thumps of her feet on the stairs are heard. He looks down as he slips his own shoes off and realizes that they have guests in the house.

When Shizuka reaches the second floor of the mansion, she is greeted by five others. Smiling when she recognizes the dark eyes of a familiar Uchiha, she runs toward him.

"Shizu-chan!" The boy is shocked when she tackles him to the floor with her hug. Laughs from the others can be heard, but she doesn't care. It had been a whole month since she had seen this boy, and that had been way too long.

Two pups–their fur coats contrasting in color—approach the young girl and lick her cheeks, causing her to giggle silently. The girl with two large, red fang marks on her cheeks laughs, "you know, Shisui wasn't the only one who missed you, Shizuka-chan."

Moving off of the young Uchiha, Shizuka gathers the two excited puppies into her thin arms. As the dogs lovingly interact with the girl, Shisui speaks with a proud tone in his voice.

"Shizu-chan, I'd like you to meet Katsu-nii and Kou-sensei!" The proud Uchiha first points to the boy with sandy hair, streaked with red, sitting beside the Inuzuka girl, then he points towards the older man with long blue hair that is cut short above his shoulders, the longer strands are tied in several braids at the base of his neck where his hair stops. His blue eyes are just as void of emotion as the look on his face, a very different expression from what young Shizuka is used to seeing.

"Yamazaki Katsuro," the sandy-haired boy waves at her with a hint of a small smile. Shizuka shyly smiles and waves back, letting the black pup in her arms jump out. "Nice to meet you, Shizuka-san."

Shaking her head the girl holds her index finger out. Staring at it for a while, Katsuro is clueless to what she wants. Realizing this, Shisui pulls his older teammate's hand to the girl who draws her fingers across the palm of his hand. She draws the honorific '_san_' before crossing it out.

The clueless genin furrows his sand-colored eyebrows. "Huh?" He looks up to meet her eyes. Shizuka frowns at her failure to communicate with the older boy.

"Here," Shisui takes her hovering finger and places it on his own palm. "Write it for me." Hesitantly, the young Namikaze drags her finger across the smooth skin of the Uchiha's palm. He nods his head when he understands, "she's just telling you that there's no need to use honorifics with her. She doesn't mind you calling her Shizuka," he explains. Katsu hums in understanding.

The red-haired woman, chatting with the blue-haired man, stops when the cries of a baby boy echo from the floor above. Before she can even stand up, Shizuka beats her to it by teleporting into her younger brother's room. Kushina blinks in surprise, shocked by the sudden action.

"Kushina?" she turns her head to look at her husband as he walks up the stairs and onto her floor. "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you teach her that jutsu today?" the redhead utters her question after several failed attempts to word it correctly.

The blond Hokage stares at her in confusion, "what jutsu?"

"You know, that–"

"The Hiraishin," normally Kushina would've smacked anyone who interrupted her upside the head, but she was too shock to give Kou that treatment. Minato turns his head to look at the blue-haired man who has stood up and bowed formally, "I'd best be going now. I will leave you to your family, Lord Hokage."

As Kou takes Katsu and Ran with him, Shisui stubbornly refuses to leave before sprinting up the stairs. In the room at the very far end of the hall, Shizuka leans over the railings of the wooden crib. Her white hair hangs over the baby boy's face as she leans over. Her hand is gripped tightly by the boy whose cries begin to slowly die down.

'_Shh...shh..._' she thought as she patted the baby boy's shoulder lightly. A near transparent mark glimmers in the light on the baby's wrist. It was a mark for the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Shizuka cradles baby Naruto in her thin arms, she leaves a loving kiss on his forehead and pulls away just as Minato, Kushina and Shisui step into the room. Kushina immediately steps up and wraps her arms around both her children, "are you okay? You aren't dizzy or anything, right Shi-chan?"

Staring at his daughter, Minato is fascinated as he runs through the possible scenarios. '_There is just no way that Shizuka could have done the Hiraishin with no mistakes and still not be woozy after teleporting,'_ he crosses his arms and his frown deepens. '_But I don't really know of anyone else who knows the Hiraishin enough to be able to teach it to her...especially not when she was barely even four years old.'_

"Shizu-chan, how did you–when did you?" Shisui kneels beside the girl as she hands over her baby brother to her mother. All the snow-haired girl does is smile innocently at him softly and shrug her shoulders.

'_And it was almost as if she did it by second nature...there's no way,'_ the Yellow Flash thought to himself, his light eyebrows pulling together. '_Well there is the possibility of the Second Hokage–no...he has no history of having a child so that conclusion is a definite no..._'

Several months after this strange discovery, Shizuka has come close to perfecting her Rasengan, but it is still strangely shaped. Her days in training with her father are limited, now that she has started her career as an Academy student. But that is no matter, she still enjoys young Itachi's company in class.

The doors to the Academy are about to be opened for the day. All the students are happily chatting together as they wait for their teachers to call them to class. Shizuka sits on the old wooden swing in front of the Academy doors where most of the children her age are gathering.

She stares down at her sandaled feet and the small patches of sunlight that manage to slip past the luscious green leaves of the towering tree. The girl let out an inaudible sigh before looking back up at the groups of loud children playing around.

It's already been a few months since her career at the Academy had started, but no one ever seemed to want to approach the white-haired girl. Rumors had reached her ears that if they did something wrong, or something that angered her, they would have the legendary Yellow Flash of Konoha after their throats. None of them knew how wrong they were or that Shizuka was just a sweet silent girl who couldn't talk. Even if she were able to speak, she wouldn't ask her dear busy father to do such petty, childish things.

She could just imagine them talking about her behind her back and sadly, rarely were the comments she overheard meant to be complimenting:

"_It's __**her**__...Hokage-sama's daughter..._"

"_Don't you know? Lord Fourth only adopted her because no one wanted her and he felt bad..._"

"_She's only in our class at her age because she's __**his**__ daughter. It's not like she has __**that**__ much skill or anything..._"

Out of nowhere, something covered her eyes: two warm hands. Shizuka nearly jumped out of the swing to hit her 'attacker' if it weren't for the familiar voice that sang straight after, "guess who?~"

The six-year-old girl's lips curved upwards into a smile when she realized who it was that covered her eyes. If she had been able to speak, she would have been able to cooperate and say his name, but due to her inability to speak, she was stuck with writing on the speaker's arm. '_Shisui, I know it's you.'_

"Oh, rats!" Shisui pulled his hands away and snapped his fingers. He had ignored the fact that she had written his name wrong, but he really didn't care _that_ much.

The smaller girl turned her neck to see the two Uchiha boys standing behind her. The boy directly behind her, who had covered her eyes, had grown a tad bit taller over the year. His dark hair was as unkempt as ever, but slightly longer, making the curved ends curl even more. He wore a signature Uchiha high-collared, short-sleeved shirt with dark-colored pants that cut off at the middle of his shins. His father's memento, an old tanto, was strapped to his back. The short sword's length was long enough to be considered a regular sword for his size at this time. Shisui also wore his hitai-ate over his forehead, displaying his rank as a graduated ninja. Behind Shisui stood a longer-haired boy with hair as dark as the night. His clothes worn in a similar style to the older Uchiha, except for the forehead protector.

The longer-haired boy rolled his eyes at the older boy's antics, "you're ridiculous, Shisui-nii. Of course Shizuka knew it was you. Who else–but you–would do as you have done?" By his choice of words, anyone would never have guessed that Itachi was the younger of the two Uchiha prodigies–much less a six-year-old.

"You're no fun, Tachi! And you're supposed to be younger than me!" Shisui made a face before plunging his hand into his school bag and pulling out a light pink cherry blossom. His cheeks pinked slightly as he held out the small flower for the girl. "I picked this sakura for you on the way to school."

Shizuka stood up to face the two boys and smiled, letting the blushing boy place the pink flower in her light hair, behind her right ear.

"Beautiful..." Shisui breathed out. Not knowing whether he was talking about her or the flower, the younger girl blushed.

Itachi watched the scene unfold with a hand behind his back. In that hand, he held another blossom. He had intended to give the flower to her, but when he saw his cousin handing her one, he found his own small action to be a bit insignificant. What disappointed him most was that he hadn't seen Shisui picking the blossom from one of the flowering trees. Itachi shifted uncomfortably as he let the fragile flower drop to the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets.

The toll of a large, bronze bell rang throughout the schoolyard, causing the younger Uchiha to stiffen up a bit. "We...we should get going."

Shizuka snapped out of her daze and nodded at the Uchiha who walked past her without a normal greeting. She blinked in surprise, but shrugged it off as him having a bad day before waving goodbye to Shisui and running after her best friend and classmate.

The older boy chuckled and waved at the back of the departing girl. He was so engrossed in watching the snow-haired girl run off that he hadn't noticed the two growing puppies that suddenly pounced on him, causing him to jump in surprise. A brown-haired girl plucked the small cherry blossom up off of the ground. She had seen the entire scene a few feet away, and she felt a bit heartbroken for the younger boy.

"As a shinobi, you should alway be prepared for anything, Sui," the girl stood upright, slipping the flower into her pocket.

The dark-haired boy turned around at his nickname and rubbed the back of his neck as he knelt down. He ran his hands through the two pups' contrasting fur: Black and White. Shisui tilted his head up, only to be met with the girl's playful smirk. Her long, brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and two large, red fang-like marks were painted on her cheeks. She wore a mesh-armor shirt underneath a large black sweatshirt. The rim of the hood was embroidered by grey fur as well as the cuffs of her sleeves. The only thing different from a year ago was that her ears were now pierced with small, silver pearls and the black-clothed hitai-ate around her forehead.

"Hi to you too, Kiroiimaru, Aoimaru!" he laughed, ignoring the Inuzuka girl just to mess with her. She was quite a quick-tempered girl and it amused both her teammates and her emotionless sensei. Her eyes twitched when he didn't greet her, but greeted her dogs.

"You should also greet your elders, Sui-chan..." she spat his nickname with a threatening tone with the additional, sarcastic honorific.

"Oh, h-hi there, R-Ran! I didn't see you t-there...hehe!" He continued to smile at the older girl in a mocking manner, despite his stutter. Usually if he knew that she was seriously angry and would punch him because of it, Shisui would add a serious honorific after her name. However, for some strange reason, he was feeling pretty brave today.

Although brave isn't always good...especially in this case...

Ran towered over him slightly, despite her being three years his senior, glowering down on him with menacing brown eyes. "Aren't you a _polite_ little boy?" Next, she threw a punch that hit home and may have made 8-year-old Shisui see stars.


	6. Ch 5: Training with the Clans

Chapter 5: Training with the Clans

* * *

_"Hakkeshou Kaiten!"*_

A half-sphere of chakra whirled around on Training Field 9, causing the rally of shuriken to reflect off of the created barrier. Although the rotating sphere was seemingly impenetrable, a single throwing star slipped through and grazed the cheek of the Hyuuga inside. The boy with milky lavender eyes stopped his movements to lightly brush his fingers against the cut and wipe off the blood.

He cursed under his breath as a flash of white crossed his eyes. He tried to bring his arm up to block the incoming attack but found his limbs stiff and unmoving; out of the corner of his eyes he could see a thin shadow line attaching onto his own shadow. Just as the white-haired girl was about to kick her leg around at his side, a boy with pale blond hair flickered in front of the Hyuuga and blocked off the attack.

"Dang it, Inoki!" groaned the spiky-haired boy holding a hand seal in the shade. He released the shadow possession before dodging a rally of kunai. He pulled out his own to reflect the second round. "This is why I hate training...it's so troublesome..." There was a chuckle from the trees and the Nara boy ducked.

_"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"*_

A flaming fireball, larger than any of the kids, flew out, barely missing the top of the spiky-haired boy's head. Shizuka flipped backwards as did the Hyuuga and his teammate just as the fireball flew between them and crashed into the river that ran through the training field.

"Shisu–" The Nara was about to turn around and yell at the boy who had just barely missed his head with the fireball when a large breath of flame shot towards him. "GAH!"

_"Katon: Karyuudan!"*_

_'Suiton: Suiryuuheki!'*_

Shizuka flew through a set of hand signs and a flood of water materialized from the river, blocking the fire in a shape of a protective wall and neutralizing the element. The Nara boy thanked his teammate for saving him before darting backwards. The brown-haired girl who had just launched the flames at the Shadow User frowned, upset that her technique had failed.

_"GATSUGA!"*_

Three drills spun in a swirl around each other towards the white-haired girl as she sprinted towards the other end of the Training Field. She pulled out a special kunai with three-points and a yellow piece of paper with a seal scribbled on it. Instead of throwing it towards her three attackers, Shizuka threw it with all her strength in the direction she was running.

"Gotcha!" Just as the three Inuzuka members were within reach of the snowy-haired girl she was gone in a flash of white. The Inuzuka girl stopped spinning, crouched on the ground with her black and white pups at her side. Her canine teeth, protruding from her upper lip, bit down hard in frustration. "Curse that _Hiraishin*_ technique..."

The young kunoichi reappeared on the other end of the field just as her flying, three-pronged kunai embedded itself in one of the tree trunks. She dropped down from her crouching position when a shuriken–larger than her torso—barely swept by her body and lodged itself into the tree trunk.

'_That sure is dangerous..._' She thought as she threw her leg around to knock down the stick, balancing a blue glass ball, and putting her hand up to catch the falling orb. Shizuka held the sphere up for all to see and received several cheers, but also several upset groans. '_Game. Over._'

The white-haired girl's teammates crowded around her, giving her pats on the back and compliments at her winning move. One boy in general, with unkempt, dark hair wrapped his arms around the shorter girl from behind. "You did awesome, Shizu-chan," the boy whispered softly.

"Good job, Shizuka," the spiky-haired boy smiled at her.

"You didn't do so bad yourself, Shikato," the brown-haired girl who had breathed fire at the Nara trotted over with her arms crossed over her chest. Her tough and adventurous personality could be seen through her attire and the way she smirked as she walked over to them.

He rolled his eyes with a tired sigh, "whatever, Sayori..."

Inoki jumped onto his classmate's back with a troublemaker's grin. He wrapped his arms and legs tightly around the taller boy, pulling both of them down and into the slow-moving river with a splash. The blonde boy came up laughing and spitting streams of water at Sayori while the Nara just wiped his face in a bored manner.

"Yamanaka!" Sayori screeched at him as she grounded her teeth together in annoyance at the boy she had been teamed with for the game. It had all been her luck of the draw. If she had been able to choose, Sayori would most definitely have avoided having Yamanaka Inoki on her team.

"Sarutobi!" The blond boy mocked her before sticking his tongue out.

Everyone laughed, gathering together around the winning team. At the daily training of the younger generations of the renown clans of Konoha, the small group of young shinobi would end their day with a game of Chakra Capture. The object of the game was to test their battle skills in all categories. The group would be split into two different teams: usually blue and green. Whichever team that was be able to capture the other team's "chakra orb," on either side of the field, would win the game.

The Hyuuga flicked a small bug off of his shoulder with a scowl of disgust, "Shiki, please...keep those creepy crawlies to yourself..."

Shiki frowned at the boy–whom he had to share a seat with in class at the Academy—his dark eyebrows pulling together as he fixed the dark cloth wrapped around his sightless eyes. His short black hair was in an even bigger mess than from before they started their daily practice. "They aren't just ordinary bugs, Tokuma...they're a new hybrid the clan has entrusted me with and they're my _eyes_."

"Tch...whatever," the Hyuuga crossed his arms and looked away. Someone's hands landed on his shoulders and he shrugged them off without a care.

"Come on, Tokuma. Just be nice for once, alright?" Ran frowned at the younger boy when he made another disgusted face at her.

"Don't touch me," the lavender-eyed boy huffed. "Who knows where those filthy Inuzuka hands have been..."

The girl's eyes flared with anger and the two growing pups at her sides growled, showing theirs sharp fangs at the prideful boy filled with insults. "Why you little bast–"

"How am I supposed to know what you paint your face with. It could be your dog's crap for all I care–"

"I'm not very patient, _Tokuma-kun_. I suggest you keep your mouth shut if you don't want me to–"

The Hyuuga crossed his arms higher, lifting his chin up in the air. "Oh, is this a fight I'm smelling?"

"With your horrible sense of smell I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't tell the smell between a rose and a skunk," Ran growled.

"Hey now. Guys..." young Itachi placed a hand of the girl's arm, holding her back from throwing a knockout punch at the Hyuuga. Being the pacifist he was, the young prodigy stepped between the two of them amidst their arguments. "We just finished our third round of Chakra Capture. We don't need you two ripping out each other's throats..."

"You stay out of this, Uchiha!" Both the Inuzuka and the Hyuuga snapped. They turned to look each other with harsh eyes.

"Don't copy what I say!"

"Who would wanna copy a good-for-nothing, conceited baby like you?" Ran retorted.

Shisui patted his cousin's shoulder when he retreated and sat down beside him. "it's okay, Tach. At least you tried..."

The rest of the young shinobi rolled their eyes and sighed at the two arguing kids. "Why would she argue with him when she knows that nothing will come out of it?" Sayori sat down beside the three younger kids, rubbing her temple with two fingers. "She's a Genin now for crying out loud. You'd think she'd know better than to pick a fight with an Academy student...much less an egotistical Hyuuga..."

Shisui chuckled nervously, not daring to defend his own genin teammate from the young Sarutobi's caustic comments. He hid behind Shizuka's white curtain of hair once he saw the older girl's smirk; Sayori's attitude scared Shisui even more than Ran's. Sure he had graduated from her same class, but that didn't necessarily mean that she thought he was as skillful as she was.

A small girl with straight, light brown hair approached her fellow clan member when she saw that her own three pups had stepped up beside the two bigger dogs, snarling at the Byakugan user. "Nee-san..." She spoke softly and cautiously as if testing the water in the river. "Come on, we should get back..."

Ran sucked in a breath, holding back another insult that she was going to spit in the Hyuuga's face. "Let's go, Hana. Your Haimaru triplets don't need to dirty their paws for this insolent Academy student."

She took the smaller girl's wrist with her larger hands and pulled her along. Hana gave her classmates an apologetic look before bowing her head and running to match her cousin's speed.

"Are you giving up this fight? I thought you had your claws all sharpened and ready–" several hands were slapped over the light-eyed boy's mouth before he could say another word.

"Shut _up_, Tokuma," Shisui spoke under his breath.

"Give it a rest, will ya?" The usually obnoxious Yamanaka hissed. Itachi nodded his head in agreement, as did Shizuka. Suddenly, Inoki threw his hand back, knocking back the other hands slapped over the Hyuuga's mouth. "EWW! He licked me!"

The blond boy furiously wiped his palm on his navy blue shorts as Sayori pointed and laughed at him. "HAHA! He licked you!"

'_You say Ran is immature, but you're even worse at times_,' Shizuka pulled her eyebrows together and shook her head.

By the time the sun had almost finished setting, Inoki and Shikato made their leave, following after the bold Sarutobi girl. Shiki had left some time before them and after Ran, leaving no traces of his presence nor his bugs being their earlier. All that was left was a Hyuuga, two Uchiha and the Hokage's Daughter.

"Now that all those nuisances are gone," Tokuma tightened the band that hid away the mark that branded him as a member of the Hyuuga Branch Family. Despite being so, he was still as prideful as any other Main Branch Member–maybe even more. He turned his head to the white-haired girl who was smiling and nodding at Shisui as he told her a story about some mission he had before. "Namikaze Shizuka!"

The Uchiha stopped talking, looking up at the younger boy just as Shizuka did.

"I challenge you to a one-on-one battle. I want to know why you can come to my training when you aren't even part of a main Clan."

'_My_ training?'

"Are you kidding, Tokuma?" The messy-haired boy raised his eyebrows at the boy. "Training is over for today. Shizu's tired; give it a rest. You can challenge her tomorrow."

As if to emphasize his point, Shizuka dropped her head on Itachi's shoulder with her eyes closed. The raven-haired boy wrapped one arm around her smaller body awkwardly and patted her shoulder.

"Tch..."

"Please, Tokuma..." Itachi pleaded.

The Hyuuga boy muttered something under his breath about being privileged because of the Hokage before turning on his heels and finally leaving the three friends alone. The three young shinobi fell onto their backs in the grass with a big sigh once Tokuma was nowhere to be seen.

"Finally."

"He's gone."

'_Thank the gods..._' Shizuka thought to herself. She froze when she heard a deep, dark chuckle. The young girl sat up, looking to both of her sides to see that both boys had their eyes closed peacefully; neither of them had said a word. Pushing the strange occurrence aside, Shizuka laid back down and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she found herself in a lowly-lit corridor. A thin film of water lay on the ground and the sound of water dripping onto the surface echoed throughout the hallway. The eerie sound of a beast's deep breaths reached her ears and the hairs on the back of her neck rose.

Despite her fear, Shizuka slowly approached the source of the sound and found herself in a large room, standing in front of giant metal bars with an unknown symbol etched onto what seemed like a lock pad in the center of the bars.

"_You_..." The deep voice spoke with deep hatred and scorn. Whether or not that hatred was directed at her, Shizuka couldn't tell. "You were the one who put me back in a cage..."

A large, orange-furred beast stepped out of the shadows of the cage, snarling behind the bars. The little girl's eyes widened in realization at what–or who—it was.

"The Kyuubi..." Taken aback, Shizuka's eyes widened in shock. She had just used a voice she never knew she had. "I can...speak?"

"You fool!" The fox boomed. "Of course you can speak! Anything missing in the material world appears in your own conscience."

"Uhm..." The snowy-haired girl shrank back in slight fear at the angry beast.

"Leave my sight!" The fox spoke with great power, and before Shizuka could reply, she found herself looking up into two pairs of midnight black eyes.

"Shizu-chan?" Itachi moved back when she slowly sat up. "Why don't we take you home? You look tired."

"Hokage-sama might be looking for you," Shisui added softly, but the expression on his face told her he didn't want her to leave yet.

Looking between her two worried friends, Shizuka bit her lip and nodded slowly. Her first encounter with the infamous Nine-Tailed Demon Fox had shocked her and she couldn't think of anything better than to see her wise father who would be able to comfort her with just his presence.

Deep within her mind, the orange fox crossed his arms and laid his head on them in boredom. "It's just as I thought...those eyes of hers sealed away her voice..." He closed his deep brown eyes and his expression relaxed a bit. "Just who exactly _are_ you...?"

That night, Shizuka sat at the dinner table, but didn't touch her food. Her elbow was on the table, her cheek in her hand and a tired, disinterested expression on her face. Seeing her undisturbed bowl of rice, Minato placed his hand on her shoulder when Kushina went back to get some more rice.

"Is something wrong, Shizuka?"

The pale-haired girl didn't move, but averted her eyes from her bowl to her father. She blinked several times in silence and Minato did the same, not knowing what exactly to say. The two of them sat in silence, plainly blinking at each other until the red-haired woman came back into the room.

"What exactly are you two doing?" A smile graced her lips as she placed the refilled bowl of rice on the table. She brushed her fingers through Shizuka's fair hair before sitting down on her other side and placing some more vegetables on Naruto's plate. The growing boy–who had just turned two years old—opened his mouth to complain, but caught his father's excessive movements telling him not to say anything.

Kushina whipped around, her red hair almost slapping her husband with her beautiful crimson strands. The Yellow Flash shifted backwards to avoid her natural surprise attack. She lifted her eyebrows at her husband who resumed eating normally before turning back to see her formerly unwilling son wolfing down his newly filled plate of greens.

"I missed something...didn't I?" She crossed her arms before sitting down.

"If you missed something, I missed something, too," Minato tried to go along with this story, with a mouth full of rice, before the Red-Hot Habenero exploded. She must've been tired that night, because Kushina didn't even bother to question him further. Well...about that subject anyway.

"Did you get those teams done for Shi-chan's class?" Kushina took a sip out of her cup as she watched her husband with dangerous violet eyes. From the corner of her eyes, she realized that the subject had caught the attention of the said girl.

Minato bit his bottom lip, "well...there has been a lot of mission paperwork lately and–"

"You haven't. Have you?" She slammed her cup on the table, making both Naruto and Minato flinch back in fear of her anger being unleashed.

"W-well...I s-started a little b-bit–"

"You're the Hokage! You can't be playing around all the time!"

"But I–"

The golden-haired man was cut off when a shuffling sound came from his other side. In front of him, Kushina's smile widened. Wondering what it was that made the former jinchurki grin in the midst of her scoldings, the young Fourth Hokage turned around to see his daughter's shoulders moving up and down in silent laughter. She was covering her mouth despite being voiceless and her feet were kicking back and forth on the ground, the source of the shuffling noise.

Minato slowly relaxed, a smile spreading across his face, "you feeling any better, Shizuka?"

The snowy-haired girl's silent laughs slowed a bit and she nodded with her usual smile on her face. Kushina tilted her head to the side, "was she feeling unwell to begin with?" Shizuka took her father's hand and pulled her finger across in long strokes. The Hokage froze when he realized what she was trying to say.

"The Nine Tails?"

She nodded her head slowly. Minato turned his head to look at his wife who seemed to have stopped moving, only to see her push her chair back and stand up. The red-haired woman knelt beside her daughter, her long red hair pooling on the floor around them. She placed an arm around the girl and placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead.

"Shi-chan, let me tell you something Lady Mito told me," Kushina's voice was soft and gentle. She brushed her fingers through her daughter's silky white hair. "'Love is the only way to tame the Nine-Tails, to overcome his hate.' You have to fill the vessel of the Kyuubi with love. You have your father, Naruto and you have me. Don't worry about that hateful orange fur-ball."

Shizuka bit her lips, throwing her arms around her mother and burying her face in her crimson hair. Kushina rubbed the small girl's back comfortingly, kissing the girl's head lovingly every now and then. There was a light tap on her shoulder and the white-haired girl turned her head to see her little brother's goofy smile. Naruto had his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth on his feet. Minato knelt down beside the boy, pulling the entire family together in a big hug.

"I love Shizua-nee-chan much and much and much!" Shizuka wished that the silly grin on Naruto's face would never disappear as he rubbed his whisker-marked cheek on her bare arm. She loved the younger boy's adorable accents and speech patterns–many of which were picked up from their mother. She would cherish the smiles on her family's faces for eternity since these three people meant the world to her.

_'This is my family. My sole reason to live. I want protect them all. I will! Each and every one of them...'_

* * *

Jutsu Names:

_Hakkeshou Kaiten_ - 8 Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven

_Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu_ - Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique

_Katon: Karyuudan_ - Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet

_Suiton: Suiryuuheki_ - Water Style: Water Dragon Wall

_Gatsuga_ - Fang Passing Fang

_Hiraishin_ - Thunder God (**_A/N: as in The Flying Thunder God Technique_**)


	7. Ch 6: Assault of a Cloaked Man

Chapter 6: Assault of a Cloaked Man

* * *

Three recently graduated genin landed on the top of a large waterfall. On the other side of the rushing water was a large stone statue of the legendary villain: Uchiha Madara. The three had arrived at the famous Final Valley. The location of Senju Hashirama and his former best friend, Uchiha Madara's, last battle–giving it the name "Final Valley."

The turquoise-haired boy dropped into a cross-legged position on the Founding Hokage's head. A smaller girl with pure white hair joined him, pulling out the three scrolls they had found. The older boy leaned over to see the riddles in each one.

In the first scroll:

_**"Here's a test of knowledge**_

_**For you have graduated your 'college.'**_

_**Now try your best in this fest,**_

_**I'm at a place you can purchase a spare Chunin vest."**_

With the smarts of an Uchiha in the group, the trio had made their way to the weapons shop, where the shopkeeper had handed them each a specially crafted weapon and a second scroll.

The oldest boy of the three placed his fingers lightly on the second scroll to better read it's enigma:

_**"Well rats,**_

_**You're making me tell you congrats.**_

_**In one's office you shall scavenge,**_

_**For in it is your next challenge."**_

This time it was the Hokage's daughter that had led the way. They had sprinted across the village by rooftop, to arrive at the Fourth's office window. The kind, golden-haired man patted each child's head before handing them a scroll and inviting them to sit down for a chat and cookies.

During their rest time, the three read their third scroll as the Hokage gave the three of them some battle tips.

_**"Now you mustn't dilly-dally,**_

_**'Cause I lie in wait this time in a valley.**_

_**For where the last step lies.**_

_**A Hokage's friendship dies."**_

Finally, the trio made their way to the Final Valley after the blue-haired boy decided this would be the right place. None of the puzzles were signed, making the three members of the new Genin team even more curious.

"Do we have to find the scroll this time?" The blue-haired boy groaned as he fell onto his back with his hands behind his head. The dark clouds hung over the area and a few droplets started to color the solid rock.

"Shut up, Blueberry."

"_You_ shut up, Weasel."

"Are you sure your name isn't Aoi and you just spelled it wrong on your enrollment papers?"

"My name is Ao!" The blue-haired boy rolled his eyes. "I know that the Uchiha are an elite clan, but did something go wrong with you? No _elite_ jokes from you, huh?" The boy turned his head to the young Uchiha with a smirk. "Besides...my name is made up of two simple symbols–with five strokes. Geez, so much for a prodigy amongst elites."

As the boy with long, black hair turned his head the other direction, the girl of the team let out an inaudible sigh. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on top. These boys...she couldn't believe how unbelievably immature they were around each other. Normally Itachi was _overly_ mature, but whenever he worked with Ao, his maturity level seemed to drop dramatically.

"See...look! You made Shizuka upset, Itachi," the older boy teased.

'_Don't drag me into this..._' She thought, closing her eyes in annoyance. '_You are 10 for crying out loud! Itachi is three years younger than you!_'

The two boys continued their bickering for the what seemed like the longest time to Shizuka. They only stopped when the white-haired girl's head snapped up.

"Shizuka?"

"Shizu-chan, what's wrong?"

Just as they asked, a man clad in the average Konoha shinobi attire–signature green flak jacket, navy pants, Hidden Whirlpool Village's symbol on his navy blue sleeves—landed on the statue. He had long brown hair that hung over his shoulders, a thin, long senbon in his mouth–looking like an oversized toothpick—and a bandana-styled forehead protector on his head with the metal plate facing backwards.

The young girl's eyes widened in realization at who this man was: Shiranui Genma, a member of her father's Guard Platoon. She rushed to the man's side when her eyes landed on the many bleeding cuts on the special Jonin's body. Shizuka's silvery eyes morphed into black irises with a red swirl that resembled the Uzumaki Clan symbol. Her hands grabbed the older man's and a light orange glow encased her hands as she transferred her chakra to the exhausted man.

As she was doing this, the man coughed several times and blood spurted from his mouth, splattering across the stone surface. He brought his arm up to wipe off the corner of his mouth. "Shizuka..." He panted. "I'm sorry..."

Genma collapsed, dropping his weight on top of the poor girl. Itachi sidestepped quickly to help her support his weight before placing the unconscious man down on his back.

"Weasel! Heads up!"

The Uchiha swiftly pulled out a kunai, deflecting the incoming round of weapons in one fluid motion. A faint cloak of mist filled the area, making it a bit difficult to see where the attack has come from.

Shizuka stood up, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword. She had received it from the weapons shop merchant earlier and tied it to her back so that the hilt peeked out from her right shoulder. On Ao's forearms, he wore black, steel gauntlets that the merchant had given him. The two metal pieces of armor looked ordinary, but but the shopkeeper had told them that it held several compartments inside. Itachi activated the treasure of his legendary clan, the Sharingan, without blinking. Three tomoe swirled around his pupil as his midnight black irises changed to a bloody red. He spreads his fingers, revealing the shuriken woven between them.

There was a faint shuffling of feet and the young prodigy sprang into action, sweeping his arms around and flinging the weapons towards the sound. However, at the exact same time, Ao had done the exact same. The two sets of throwing weapons collided and both boys gritted their teeth in anger.

"Are you defending the enemy?!" Itachi shot a glare at the older boy. At that precise moment, when the Uchiha looked away, a hooded man in a black cloak–with long sleeves that covered his hands—shimmered to his side. Ao yelled at him to look out, but it was a bit too late; in the midst of an attempt to block and counterattack, like his father had taught him, the man kicked the small boy, sending him flying in the direction of his teammate.

Ao cursed under his breath as he dodged his teammate's flying body. He flipped over the man's leg when he aimed to kick him and flicked his wrist, sending out knives that slid out from his gauntlets' wrists in a split second. The blue-haired boy twirled around in the air, swinging the blades around to cut at his attacker.

Seeing his plan, the man's body sped away a few feet back. He made a single-handed seal and a stream of water rose up from the edge of the waterfall, crashing down on the blue-haired boy after he fell down from his spin quite ungracefully. When the water subsided, Ao was encased by a sphere of water. Judging by the boy's struggling movements, Shizuka knew there was no air inside; it would only be a matter of time before he ran out of breath.

She turned her head to see her other teammate, struggling to hold onto a slippery rock on the edge of the waterfall, and her grip on her sword slackened. His feet wouldn't stick to the rushing water no matter how good his chakra control was for his age. Shizuka bit her lip, remembering that she hadn't given either of her teammates the mark of the Thunder God and that all her available kunai were unmarked; using the Hiraishin was not a possibility for her.

Before she could think further, the man appeared in front of her. The snowy-haired girl pulled her arm around to block the man's attack with her deep blue, metal arm guards. Shizuka felt herself fall when her feet were kicked out from under her and she sucked in a breath when the pain of scraping her bare skin against the jagged surface of the rock shot through her small body. She tumbled backwards, falling to the edge where the water met the earth of the statue.

'_Dang it! What do I do?!_' Shizuka's arms felt heavy as she tried to prop herself up. Tears filled her eyes as she thought of how useless she felt at the moment. Even Itachi and Ao had been able to attack the man without second guessing themselves. But she was _different_. Shizuka didn't have the confidence the two boys had in fighting.

Sure she had amazing control over her chakra at such a young age, but she had been doing such simple techniques for such a long time that it was as simple as breathing for her. Yes, she had great stamina–better than both Itachi _and_ Ao—but even with that stamina and her agility, what could she do. Her fighting styles were always too predictable and it was difficult for her to predict a person's movements in seconds like Itachi. Shizuka knew she didn't have the same strength that Ao had especially when the said boy was used to lifting heavy things for his parents' bakery ever since he was a baby.

'_I could give you power_...' A dark and sinister voice echoed in the back of her head.

Shizuka's muscles tightened, keeping her from flowing down towards the edge of the waterfall. The rushing water roared in her ears, as did a crash of thunder from far away. '_Power...?_' She thought, remembering the voice from a long while before. She closed her eyes softly, almost as if she were relaxing.

"_Yes... Power._"

When she opened her eyes again, Shizuka found herself face-to-face with the infamous Nine Tailed Demon Fox. The dark cage was lit up with a reddish glow as what seemed to be the Kyuubi's malicious, bubbling red chakra oozed out from the metal bars of his cage.

"Power..." Shizuka spoke hesitantly, testing out her voice to find the same result as the very first time. She could speak. After a few moments, she looked back up with renewed confidence. "I want it! I want the power to protect them both!"

"The power to protect, huh?" A small smirk began to grow from the corner of the fox's lips. He reached one clawed hand close to the bars, motioning for the little girl to come closer with a sharp claw. "That is no matter. I can give you this...power."

As if in a trance, Shizuka slowly stepped closer and closer to the orange fox. Finally, her small hand weaves through the long fur of the Nine-Tailed Fox's gigantic claw. She closed her eyes and reopened them to reveal black irises with a red swirl curling around her eye. It was the eye that Minato has named the Fukugengan–the Recovery Eye.

Shizuka could feel the malice pouring through the chakra she was absorbing. All of the hatred that this Nine-Tailed Beast held. Painful screams echoed in her mind, cries of anguish from both his victims and even the beast himself. Suddenly, the warmth of a large hand spread over her shoulder. A warmth filled with love and care.

_"Keep your mind clear. Think straight and your power will come. There is no need to borrow power for now." Shizuka jerked back from the Tailed Beast, cutting off the chakra absorption. Her eyes snapped open and she found herself in a different area. The place was bright, and slightly blurred like a memory. Looking around, Shizuka felt the tall grass brush at her ankles. In front of her, she could see the back of a tall man dressed in blue armor with silver fur–that matched the paleness of his white hair–lining his neck. A tiny girl, with white hair as pure as freshly fallen snow, stood on top of the river with her hands on her knees. Her breaths were deep and filled with fatigue._

_"Otou-san..." The girl dropped onto her knees, still controlling her chakra so she wouldn't get wet. "Please! I'm so tired!"_

_From behind, Shizuka watched as the man in blue armor crossed his arms. He spoke with the same voice that came to her in times of trouble, sadness or whenever she was scared. "Alright. One more time, Sako. Then we'll go back."_

_A smile lit up on the girl–Sako's—face. She pushed herself back onto her feet and quickly weaved through several hand seals, so fast that Shizuka's eyes were unable to follow. Sako's hands ended parallel to the ground and the water in front of her rose up in tiny droplets like reversed rain. In the air, the form of a dragon collected together from the water before __crashing down beside the man in blue armor who didn't even flinch. "Suiton: Suiryuu Koubaku!"*_

_"Not bad...not bad..." The man nodded his head before kneeling down on one knee. Sako ran into his arms with a wide smile, "let's get back, Oka-san is waiting."_

Just as the man in blue turned around, there was a blinding light, preventing her from seeing his face. Freezing water bit at her shins and Shizuka found herself holding on to the edge as she was before, her feet inside the water. The cloaked man was still standing in the same spot, but his stance was more tense.

With renewed vigor, Shizuka pulled herself out of the water. Feeling more confident, she pulled her sword out and flung it towards the edge of the waterfall, towards Itachi. Taken aback, the cloaked man loosened his stance. The girl placed her palm on the ground before disappearing in a flash of white. A mark, very unlike the Fourth Hokage's design, faded into view on the ground. It looked like a broken circle with a smaller circle inside and three lines breaking out from it. At the same moment, the young Uchiha's grip slackened and he began to fall. Shizuka reappeared when the sword landed on the edge of the rock Itachi had been gripping; the same mark of the Flying Thunder God curled around the handle of her katana, making its home on the bottom of the silver blade. She threw her arm out, holding tightly on to her friend's before teleporting him to a different location.

Leaving Itachi where she had stamped the Hiraishin seal in a hurry, Shizuka grabbed her sword and sheathed it. She weaves through a number of hand seals and the cloaked man was surrounded by a pool of water. At first she was unable to recognize what jutsu she had used because of the unfamiliar sequence of hand seals, but was shocked when she realized what it was. The man was thrown upwards and tiny water bullets fly towards the cloudy sky like reversed rain while Shizuka sprints across the rushing river to her other teammate, in need of help. As she is running, Shizuka holds her hands parallel to the water. A dragon of water forms above the man before in comes crashing down, slamming the mysterious figure into the hard ground.

_'Suiton: Suiryuu Koubaku!'_

The water prison holding Ao hostage breaks apart and Shizuka catches her teammate's arm around her shoulders. The weight of the older boy makes her lose focus on the chakra on her feet, causing both of them to fall down and into the river. Meanwhile, Itachi stood up, his Sharingan activated. Ao pulled out a few shuriken and tossed them towards the enemy before losing the chakra hold his hand had on the water from exhaustion. The young Uchiha prodigy took in a deep breath after a few hand seals, holding the last tiger seal right below his lips.

"_Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!_"

Breaths of fire flew from the Uchiha's lips in short intervals, encasing each shuriken thrown towards the man now lying on the ground. Just as the fire-encased shuriken reached the man, someone hopped down in front, pulling out a katana with a darkened, non-reflective blade, blocking each throwing star.

After every shuriken was deflected, the three genins could see the second man clearer. He had short, spiky brown hair and a wheal-like scar running across the bridge of his nose and down the left side of his face. His dark eyes refused to show any sort of emotion to the three newly graduated genins. The new man wore the standard green, Konoha flak jacket with navy pants and long sleeves with Uzushiogakure's red swirl on the sides of his biceps. He wore his hitai-ate over his forehead as did most ninjas. Metal rings lined his fingers that gripped the hilt of his black sword, now sheathed at his waist.

"Will you get up? Lord Hokage is calling for us."

Shizuka, who was helping her teammate out of the water, almost dropped Ao back in the freezing cold waves. Itachi's shoulders stiffened at the mention and Ao froze. All three were thinking the same thing: '_Lord Hokage?!_'

The cloaked man slowly stood up, pulling back his hood. The long sleeves of his cloak had been ripped by Shizuka's earlier attack, revealing bloodied skin. When the cloth hiding his identity was removed, the three newly graduated shinobi's eyes widened. It was the same man that had looked extremely bloodied and beat up before the whole ordeal.

"I'm in the middle of something, Raido," the man winced when he moved his arms. "Though, if you hadn't jumped in, I'm sure Shizuka-chan and her friends may have burnt me to a crisp..."

"You know that's not funny, Genma..."

Genma just chuckled at the special jonin before pulling out another senbon and sticking the end in his mouth, clicking it against his teeth a few times before turning to see Shizuka and Ao now out of the river; the latter still coughing out spurts of water from the prison.

"Good job, kids. I'm not sending you three back to the Academy like some of the other unlucky ones. Meet me at the swing in front of the Academy in three days for your first mission."

He then disappeared from the scene, Raido rolled his eyes before he did the same. Shizuka blinked in surprise, then at both of her teammates. Itachi was the first to speak up after another minute.

"Where did you learn _that_ technique? I've never seen it before..."

The snowy-haired girl looked down at her hands then up to the sky. The rain hit her face lightly, reminding her that she was soaking wet from the storm that was still passing over the area. The same deep, comforting voice from the man dressed in blue armor echoed in her mind, '_Good job. It was perfect.'_

Shizuka looked back at the Uchiha, shaking her head twice and shrugging her shoulders because honestly she didn't even know where that jutsu had come from. It was strange to see it in a vision and then do it perfectly without the dragon missing its mark.

"Well, it's over now," Ao took a deep breath as he patted the smaller girl's shoulders. "And you did awesome, Shizuka."

The addressed girl gave the older boy a small smile before taking Itachi's outstretched hand and standing up.

"Let's go, Shizu-chan. You'll become a blueberry too if you stay around _that_ too much," he jerked his chin at Ao as he intertwined their fingers together. The Hokage's daughter just giggled silently while watching her two teammates bickered a bit more.

"Shut up, Weasel."

"Who gave _you _the right to talk, Blueberry?"

And it continued as always.

* * *

Jutsu Names:

_Suiton: Suiryuu Koubaku _- Water Style: Explosive Bite of the Water Dragon

_Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu _- Fire Style: Fire Phoenix Sage Technique


	8. Ch 7: Simple Missions

Simple Missions

* * *

After three days of good rest, Shizuka wakes up to the weak punches of two-year-old Naruto as he tries to wake his sister up. The sunlight streams through the little space between her thick, dark blue curtains, casting a thin line of light running along the wooden floors of her room.

Yawning and stretching her arms, the new Genin ruffled her little brother's unkempt blond hair.

"Nee-chan!" He squeals as he throws his little arms around her. Giggling silently, Shizuka kisses Naruto's forehead before gently pushing him out to get changed.

Turning around in her new tan, kimono-styled dress, Shizuka looks over her shoulder in the mirror. Satisfied with the outfit her mother had given to her the day before, the white-haired girl takes her black-clothed hitai-ate and ties it around her forehead.

'_This was what I was wearing when your father saved me!_'

Kushina had been smiling and giggling at the memory of Minato saving her from the Kumo-nins when they were merely Genins. That had been her bedtime story several times already.

"NARUTOOO!" Snapped out of her thoughts, the young Genin's eyes widen as she scrambles to gather her tools before racing down the stairs. A certain Uzumaki should never be angered–Nine Tails' Jinchuriki or not—and at that moment she sounded pretty angry.

On the ground floor of the triple-floored Hokage's Mansion, Shizuka leaped down the last three steps, struggling to buckle her utility pouch as she takes her seat at the breakfast table. Finally calming down, the young kunoichi looks up through the strands of hair, that had fallen from their place behind her ears. All she could see were the top spikes of her father's infamous golden hair as he hid behind the newspaper he was holding. So much for the fearless Yellow Flash of Konoha... Judging by the white cuffs of his sleeves, Shizuka knew that he was all dressed for work.

A little boy with equally blond hair rubbed the back of his head with his tiny hands, trembling underneath his red-haired mother's fearsome glare.

Taking her slice of toast as quietly as possible, Shizuka nibbles on the brown corner of the toasted bread as she listens to her mother scold her baby brother.

"Uh...Kushina, please...calm dow–"

The red-head snaps her head to the man peeking over the daily newspaper. "I told you, I am completely calm!"

"I mean–"

"You know what?"

The Fourth Hokage bites his lip as he looks at his wife expectantly.

"Since you keep talking back to me," she says in her booming voice.

"Kushina–"

"It's '_Kushina-sama_' for the next week!" The Uzumaki glares at her husband, who jolts back in shock, his jaw-length bangs swaying from the movement. "Another word from you, Mr. Hokage, and you'll be sleeping on the couch!"

Minato opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted again.

"For a month!"

And that's all it takes for the Fourth Hokage to shut his mouth. As Kushina is ranting on in anger, the doorbell rings. In the midst of her yelling, she takes the time to turn to her white-haired daughter with a sweet smile.

"Shizuka, dear, can you get the door please?" And then she resumes scolding her golden-haired husband and son. Pitying the male side of her family, the voiceless girl pushes away from her seat at the table to get to the front door. Listening to the fainter yells of her mother, Shizuka slowly opens the door to see both of her teammates waiting for her.

"Hiya, Shizuka-chan!" The blue-haired boy gives her a goofy grin. At the same time, the long-haired Uchiha leans to the side to get a better look into the house.

"Is Lady Kushina yelling at Lord Hokage again?" The leaning boy chuckled. His suspicions are proved correct when the silent girl nods her head with her thin, pale eyebrows pulled together. Shizuka slips her black, traditional Shinobi sandals on as Itachi takes a step into the house. "Lady Kushina, I'll be taking Shizu-chan now!"

There was a pause and all was silent in the kitchen where Kushina had been screaming before. Her voice returns with a sweet tone, "thank you Itachi-kun. Have fun, you two!"

Ao muffled his laughs with his fist and Shizuka smiles at the Uchiha who gives her a smile just as bright. The excitement of their first mission was fresh and none of them could wait for it to begin.

Ao sprawls out in the grass, underneath the giant tree in front of the Academy doors. Their sensei had gone inside to hand over their 47th D-Rank mission report in the past three years. The most exciting mission they had was a C-Rank that had been on the verge of becoming a B-Rank. However, that was still very action-less to the three genins. Ever since the day, three years ago, when they received their first mission, things began to go downhill. At least in means of excitement.

"To be honest, the most exciting thing I think we've done as a team..."Ao yawned. "Is training with Genma-sensei. Catching runaway cats and picking out weeds is definitely not my favorite..."

Shizuka nodded, and Itachi hummed in agreement. Although he sounded like he agreed, the young Uchiha genius actually could care less about the ranks of the mission.

"Alright, gang," the genin team looked up to see their brown-haired sensei trotting over with his hands in his pockets. His signature senbon clicked against his teeth as he moved it up and down. "New mission. Kiki the cat is missing again–"

"Aww, sensei!"

The Special Jonin raised a disinterested eyebrow, "what is it, Ao?"

"Kiki, _again_? Can't you give us something more...exciting?" The boy crossed his arms and legs, sitting up to pout at his sensei.

"Maybe next time," was the man's usual, bored response. Genma clicked his senbon a few times, swishing it over to the other corner of his mouth. He nodded his head, "come on, let's go–"

"But you say that every time!" The blue-haired boy whined. "And it's been two years!"

"Three years, actually," Itachi looked up with his restricted view since Shizuka was braiding his long hair to pass time. He could never help it whenever an opportunity to correct the older boy presented itself. However, this time, he wanted a better mission than cat-catching. Even though he loved most cats, he didn't particularly like Kiki. "As much as I hate to admit it, Aoi here is right..."

The older boy's eyebrow noticeably twitched at the mispronunciation of his name, but kept silent about it. "I just don't see how it will make us better if all we do is catch runaway cats, sensei!"

"I can also see why Kiki runs away all the time..." Itachi muttered under his breath, thinking about the corpulent old woman who doted on the poor cat with bows and dresses, despite its gender being male. The name must have been painful to answer to. "And why is it him of all the cats?"

There was a deep chuckle, but not from their sensei, causing the team to turn to the source. A man with shaggy grey-white hair strolled over, the slight wrinkles on the corners of his eyes showed that he used to smile a lot, but that was a time from long ago.

"Ginzou-sensei!"

"Hatake-san," Genma nodded his head in respect to his fellow war veteran. He had served under the well-experienced Hatake many times in the Third Shinobi World War. Being an entire generation older than him, Genma admired the Head of the Hatake Clan.

"Ah, Shiranui-kun, I am sure your skilled team can take a C-Rank by now," the man nodded his head gravely, but his eyes were twinkling with a kind of playful glint. Genma could see where Kakashi had gotten his teasing personality. It was certainly not the White Fang, but his grandfather. "You have a wonderfully talented team of genin. Have you ever thought of placing them in the Chunin Selection Exams?"

'_The Chunin Exams?_' Shizuka paused in her braiding and looked up at the two older shinobi.

"You mean the one where all the villages come together?"

"The Second Hokage only created one type of Chunin Exams, you idiot," the Uchiha rolled his eyes at his teammate. Shizuka nudged his shoulder with a disapproving look. "Sorry, sorry. That was mean..."

The blue-haired boy grinned, glad that their kunoichi teammate was on his side today.

"They are coming soon, Shiranui-kun," the elder man said as his fingers rested on the shoto blade at his hip. "I saw a team of Hidden Stone Genin checking in this morning at the gates."

'_Iwagakure_?' Shizuka's fingers stopped halfway through her best friend's silky hair. She turned her head up to look at the well-aged Hatake. His voice was bitter when he spoke about the Hidden Stone Village, but it was no surprise since it was that very village that changed the life of his only son.

Sakumo, the well-known White Fang of Konoha, had thrown away a mission to save his comrades. He had been shunned for it by most everyone–even the ones he had saved–but Ginzou had thought that his son had done the right thing. The old head of the Hatake clan wasn't the only man who thought this way, Minato had also and after hearing of his legend, Shizuka idolized the man. Sadly, Sakumo had fallen into a deep depression and committed suicide years before Shizuka was even able to be there to change his mind.

"Please, sensei!" Ao's pleas brought the voiceless girl out of her thoughts about the White Fang.

Genma closed his eyes, letting out a big breath. Shizuka took a look around to find Ginzou long gone. Itachi's hair had loosened from her grip and the weavings were beginning to fall apart. "You aren't prepared for it," was the Jonin's monotonous reply.

The blue-haired boy turned to his teammates, still sitting in the grass, "come on, Itachi! I'm sure you want something exciting, too!"

"Sure..."

'_That wasn't very convincing, 'Tachi,_' Shizuka thought with a roll of her eyes. The three of them looked up at their sensei expectantly. Shizuka had heard a lot about the Chunin Exams. She knew that it was a way to improve herself and that was just exactly what she needed.

Ao was tired of running around after cats and being placed in the Chunin Exams would ensure some better action than getting scratched by cats. He had a feeling that his gauntlets from their Genin Test with their sensei may even start to rust if he wasn't going to use them any time soon. He tried to hide his smile as he looked up at his sensei's thinking expression.

Unlike his two teammates, Itachi didn't want to participate in the Exams. It wasn't like he would have a choice after that anyway though. If Genma didn't decide that they were going to participate, he was sure that his father would find out and make sure he took part in it anyway. He couldn't decide even if he wanted to.

"Maybe next year..." Genma turned around with his hands still in his pockets and walked away from his team. "Right now, we have a cat to catch."

"Ugh...sensei is always saying 'maybe next year,' or... 'maybe next time...' Is that all he knows how to say?!" Ao punched his anger out on the wooden pole, in Training Field 3, the kind shinobi use for punches and kicks. He mimics Genma's voice, while sticking his tongue out. "Tch...go train...like I don't do that myself anyways!"

"It's only because he cares about you," a boy with red-streaked sandy hair sighs as he puts down his carving knife and attaches chakra strings to the forearm he had made. Katsu pulls the chakra strings but then realizes that the ring finger wouldn't move. He sighs and picks up his carving knife to continue his work.

The Inuzuka girl nods, crossing her arms and leaning on another wooden pole, "yeah. Kou-sensei refused us for two years before he thought we were ready enough to try out for the Chunin Exams."

"But Ginzou-sensei–"

"Ginzou-sama is not in charge of us, Aoi," Itachi interrupts before continuing his taijutsu sparring with his cousin.

"Where are you looking, Tach?" Shisui taunts when his fist barely misses the younger prodigy's chest. He holds his hand out to catch an incoming ankle as Shizuka throws her foot around to kick his head. "Woah there, you trying to knock me out, Shizu-chan?"

The young girl only smiles before flipping away. Out of breath, Shizuka crouches in her spot, watching as Itachi throws a rally of punches, most of them being accepted with Shisui's outstretched hands or dodged with a quick lean to the side. Another few minutes pass and the two cousins dropped on the ground in exhaustion. The two of them lie beside each other, the tops of their heads touching. Their chests heave up and down as they try to catch their breaths. Once they collapse, slow claps can be heard from a bystander at the gates of the training field, making the two stand up.

"Genma-sensei," Itachi blinks in surprise at the tokubetsu Jonin as he walks over to his genin team.

"With permission from the Hokage–Shizuka, Itachi, Ao— The three of you will be placed in the Chunin Selection Exams," Genma says in a bored tone. His arms are crossed across his chest as he fiddles with the senbon in his mouth.

Someone smacks Itachi's back hard. Frowning, the young Uchiha turns his head to look at his attacker. Shisui just grinned, "good luck, Tach. You're gonna need it!"

"Ow, don't hit me like that," the younger's frown deepened, but he couldn't contain the smile growing on his face. Shizuka was also trying to hide the grin that spread onto her lips as she sat down beside the two. Ao definitely couldn't contain himself, launching his smaller body at his sensei.

"Thank you, Genma-sensei! You know we love you~" the blue-haired boy sang as he squeezed the taller man's waist tightly with his thin arms.

The Jonin taps his fingers on his arms, rolling his eyes at his students, the senbon in his mouth clicks against his teeth a few times. He smirks, but deep down he cursed the old Hatake for planting the idea of such a dangerous adventure into his students' heads. Watching as Shizuka and Itachi lock into another fierce training spar with Shisui, Genma's smirk fades off and he moves his senbon a few times in thought. He then turns his head to his blue-haired student who is now starting his own spar with Katsuro.

Genma had opposed of letting his team participate in the upcoming Chunin Exams, but after putting in some thought to Ginzou's words, he could do nothing but believe in his team that they would be able to do their best.

'I just hope I didn't do something that I'll regret...'

* * *

A/N: Sorry! This chapter is a bit short, I tried to make it longer, but it was the best I could do without making it _too_ long... Know that I appreciate all of my readers! You guys are the best ^_^


	9. Ch 8: Let The Chunin Exams Begin!

Chapter 8: Let The Chunin Selection Exams Begin!

* * *

A few mornings later, Shizuka woke up to the bouncing of her younger brother on her bed. The curtains were still closed, letting in only a sliver of the morning sunlight. The white-haired girl turned onto her stomach and buried her face in her fluffy pillow. She groaned inwardly at the energetic 5-year-old.

_'Naruto...why oh why do you have so much energy in the morning...?'_

"Shizua-nee-chan! Get up! Get up! It's today!" The blonde boy finally stopped jumping and instead, sat beside his sister, shaking her shoulder. Shizuka got up sluggishly, stretching her arms.

"SHIZUKA!"

At the booming voice of their mother, the white-haired girl threw her covers off and sprinted around the room. Naruto blinked at the speed and wondered if he had accidentally mixed up his father with his sister. With a toothbrush in her mouth, Shizuka brushed her thick hair and placed it over her right shoulder as she checked her tools in her utility pouch.

'_Kunai, check. Shuriken, check. Medicines, check. Scrolls, check. Smoke bombs, check...'_

Shizuka paused for a bit to sprint into the bathroom that joined hers and Naruto's rooms together to spit out her foamy toothpaste. She rinsed out her mouth several times before washing her face and returning to finish up her checklist.

Once she was sure she had everything, the white-haired girl turned around in her body-length mirror to check to see if the blue qipao dress she was wearing was all good and ready. Stainless and clean.

"SHIZUKA! You're going to be late!"

At that threatening voice, the white-haired girl flashed down to the bottom floor all dressed and set to go using the _Hiraishin_ seal that her father had secretly hidden at the bottom of the stairs. She tied her hitai-ate around her forehead, then hung her katana on the edge of the seat before sliding into her seat as her mother turned around from her cooking.

Kushina raised an eyebrow, "I am really, really contemplating on releasing all those seals you and Minato have placed around the house. I'm telling you, the Hiraishin is the source of all the laziness in this family..."

Shizuka just smiled at her mother before looking around the table to see only two places set: hers and Naruto's.

"If you were wondering, your father went to set up the beginning of your exams today. He left early this morning, so I ate with him," Kushina placed a glass of orange juice in front of the white-haired girl before turning her head towards the stairs. "NARUTOOO! YOU BETTER GET YOUT BUTT IN YOUR CHAIR OR ELSE I'M TAKING AWAY YOUR KUNAI FOR A MONTH!"

The boisterous sounds of the tiny boy's clumsy steps echoed throughout the residence and on the last flight of stairs there was the sound of tumbling. Naruto's mess of limbs reached the bottom of the stairs and he stared up at his mother and sister with a goofy grin.

Kushina didn't give him a break though. "In 3...2..."

The small blonde boy's eyes widened as he scrambled to his chair and plopped down in it before their red-haired mother could finish her countdown. Satisfied, the former jinchurki could only smile before turning back to get Naruto's plate of food. By the time she returned, Shizuka finished her last bite of her meal and was gulping down her orange juice.

She stood up quickly and bowed her head in thanks to her mother before slinging her katana over her body and waving bye at her baby brother.

"Wait! Nee-chan!" Naruto whined at the girl who was leaving him alone with their temperamental mother.

"Good luck, Shi-chan!"

Once outside, Shizuka stretched her arms above her head, enjoying the warmth the rising sun casted on her pale skin. The birds continued to chirp while Shizuka waved 'good morning' to each familiar face she passed. The shops were all opened and the streets were already busy with bustling people despite the sun just beginning to rise.

"G'morning, Shizuka-chan!"

"Hello, Shizuka-san!"

"Shizuka! Today's the big day! Good luck!"

All the voiceless girl could do was wave back and smile in acknowledgment at the person who greeted her. She continued this routine until a certain voice called her,

"Shizuka?"

Turning from the farmer standing at his fruit stand, Shizuka turned to see a tall boy with short, messy brown hair. He wore a black, high-collared shirt with matching shorts. Tied to his right thigh was a bandage and a kunai holster and wrapped around his forehead was a signature Konoha hitai-ate.

The boy jogged over with a wide grin on his lips. Behind him were two large dogs–one with off-white fur and clear blue eyes, another with black fur and a sandy patch that looked like a lightning bolt on his back. On the back of the large black dog was a girl. Two bright red, fang-like marks on her cheeks marked her loyalty to her clan but tied to her forehead, like the first boy, was a Hidden Leaf forehead protector. The girl wore a loose-fitting, dark brown leather jacket that stopped short at the middle of her sides. Underneath she wore a light gray t-shirt with mesh armor under that. She also wore long, black pants with a bandage and kunai holster strapped to her right thigh. Her shoulder-length hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and her brown bangs hung over the mark of the village on her hitai-ate a little bit.

"Shizuka! Today's the big day isn't it?" The girl slid off of the giant canine to pull the smaller girl into a friendly hug. "Our team just got our newest mission outside of the village, but don't worry, we'll be back in time to see your final battles." The girl winked with a smirk.

Lastly, a boy with sand-colored hair and red streaks sauntered over. He wore a long, short-sleeved gray coat that stopped at his knees. Underneath that he wore a plain black t-shirt with mesh-armor. The boy proudly wore the summoning seals he had tattooed along his arms. He wore long, dark-colored pants like the girl before with tiny chains that hung from the tops of his pockets to the sides of his pants. On the boy's back was a large scroll held vertically. "Shizuka-san," the boy gave a subtle smile. "You're taking the Chunin Exams, correct? I wish you luck."

The white-haired girl nodded politely just as the Inuzuka nudged the boy. "Geez Katsu, you treat her like she's way older than you. I understand you're being respectful to the Hokage's daughter, but Shizu's our friend!"

Shizuka bit her bottom lip shyly at the comment, looking at the second boy through her light eyelashes. An arm was thrown around her shoulders, pulling the girl upright and fixing her posture. She looked to the side to see the boy with messy hair grinning at his two teammates. "You sound so old fashioned, too!"

"And you need to act your age, Shisui," was the older boy's dull response. "Even my puppets can be better teenagers than you."

"But they're controlled by you, a teenager," Shisui retorted. "Hence the name 'puppets'!"

The young puppeteer rolled his eyes and the white dog nudged the boy's long legs with his body. The Inuzuka girl threw her arms around both of her teammates.

"Ouch, Ran!"

"That was a little rough. You do need to keep in mind that you're a girl..."

Ran's eyebrow twitched at Katsu's comment but kept quiet about it. She pulled them away from Shizuka while throwing a smile towards the girl. "We should let our little flower go on. She's got the written test ahead of her today. She doesn't need any more distractions, guys."

With one last wave from each of the three young Chunins, Shizuka waved back before turning forward to face her destination.

By the time she reached the building in which the written test was to be held, over 50 three-celled genin teams had been assembled in the waiting area. A familiar boy with dark, shiny blue hair waved her over to a large group with a wide grin. "Shizuka! Over here!"

Squeezing herself through people around the room, Shizuka finally arrived at the boy's side.

"There you are, Shizuka!"

The snowy-haired girl only smiled at the pale-blonde boy who had just thrown his arm around her shoulders despite being slightly shorter.

"It's just a written test, Inoki. What are you so excited about?" The boy with spiky, black hair in a ponytail sighed. "If anything, it's totally troublesome..."

"But we'll get to be Chunin if we pass all three tests!"

"Who cares about Chunin–"

"I do!" Inoki interrupted the lavender-eyed boy, who just continued to speak.

"Jonin is what I'm aiming for."

"Woah there. Slow down, Tokuma. It's gonna be several more years until your promotion to Jonin," the blue-haired boy raised an eyebrow at the Hyuuga. "Don't be so hyped up for it now."

"What does an everyday citizen like you know about such important ranks?" the Hyuuga crossed his arms and let out an arrogant breath.

The blue-haired boy rolled his eyes with a frustrated groan. Shizuka shook her head and patted the older boy's shoulder lightly. '_You know that it'll turn out like this. Why do you even bother with him, Ao...?_' She thought to herself.

"It's almost time," the Uchiha who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed pushed himself up. Just as he spoke, the doors to the exam room opened up and the genin teams began to file in. Drawing a number from the box, Shizuka sat down in a seat close to the center of the room. Glancing around the room, she found that her teammates weren't too far away. Ao was sitting a few rows behind her and Itachi was sitting a few rows in front.

It took about ten minutes to get all the examinees to settle down in their seats. Many older shinobi sat in their chairs around the room, clipboards in their laps and a pen in hand.

The noise level in the room was high, causing Shizuka to shrink down in her chair in wait for quietness to come. Shinobi were supposed to be quiet, so why were these people so loud?

Three loud claps sounded around the room, successfully silencing the young genin. All heads turned to the man in front, who was dressed in the natural Konoha ninja attire–green flak jacket, dark blue pants, kunai holster tied around his left thigh. The only thing that marked him different from the traditionally dressed shinobi around the room was the large gray trench coat draped over his shoulders. His arms had been pulled out of the sleeves, crossed across his chest, letting the long sleeves lay limp at his sides. The man's dark bangs hung over his eyes a little bit. His hitai-ate that marked him a Konoha shinobi had been tied around his right bicep.

"My name is Kagawa Akio. I will be your examiner for this first part of the Chunin Selection Exams," the man uncrossed his arms twirling something around his fingers. Shizuka looked closely to find a dark kunai swinging around his index finger. "You will have two hours to complete the questions printed on this sheet of paper–" Akio held out a flimsy piece of paper with lines, diagrams and words printed on it. "–which I will hand out shortly. There is but only one rule for this test."

Murmurs began around the room, Shizuka glanced around to see her blue-haired teammate frowning and laying his chin on his crossed arms on the table.

"No cheating is allowed. Like any other written test you must have taken as a child," the man let out a bored breath before crossing his arms again. He continued to ignore the murmurs from the genin around the room. "Anyone who is caught will be asked to leave, but you are free to take the exam again next time. The Chunins around the room–" he waved a hand out to the older shinobi sitting in the chairs with clipboards and pens, "–will be monitoring you. I do not give second chances, so do be careful–"

Akio was interrupted when a poof of smoke appeared at his side. When the smoke cleared a woman in the average Konoha costume was seen kneeling. Recognizing the lady as a part of her father's guard platoon, Shizuka nearly stood up from her seat.

"Kagawa-san," the woman spoke clearly, but softly. "I fear that I bring you distressful news. The Chunin Exams are to be postponed until further notice."

'_Postponed?!_' Itachi's eyes widened, but he quickly composed himself.

Inoki, sitting closer to the window in the center row, gaped at the words that had just been announced. The test he had been looking forward to so much was now... cancelled?!

'_This is troublesome..._' Lazy Shikato rested his cheek in the palm of his hand with a tired sigh. '_Everything about this exams business is troublesome..._'

Shizuka furrowed her light eyebrows, placing her crossed arms on the table in front of her. She watched the pair in the front of the room in curiosity. '_Why would they come right before the test to postpone it? What would be so important that this would be necessary?_'

"Why is that?" The examiner narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows pulling together. A frown spread across his lips.

The woman looked up, "we are being invaded."

"By who?!" Akio shouts, making several of the genins flinch back.

"We don't know, sir. We have several teams investigating it now. But we have no leads as to who is leading this assault," the woman bowed her head. "Our manpower has been cut down by a lot, many of our Jonin and higher-ranked Chunin have been sent out on missions away from the village and won't be back until later. The only ones left are wounded and out of commission."

The dark-haired man brought a hand up to rub his forehead. He let out a groan of frustration and began pacing the front of the room. The woman from the Hokage Guard continued to observe him in silence.

There was a deafening explosion outside a few miles away. Shizuka noticed that many of the kids in the room winced at the low, but sudden, sound. Suddenly, Akio whipped his head around, facing the many young genin in the room.

"Since we need all the help we can get, I will give you genin a mission."

"A mission?" An older genin with a Sand Village forehead protector stood up. "Isn't this too dangerous for genin, like us, to do?"

"Like I said," the examiner crossed his arms, looking straight at the girl who had stood up. "We need as much help as we can. You will all split back up into your original teams and head out to find out who is attacking us at this time and why."

"Kagawa-san..." The woman stood up but was silenced by his hand.

"If they can't do this much, then they have no reason in becoming Chunin."

Those few words were able to silence the whole room. Taking a look around, Shizuka noticed that the Chunins that had been sitting around the room had disappeared. Shrugging it off as them going off to investigate, she turned her attention back to the man in charge.

"You are dismissed!" Akio announced before turning back to the kunoichi who had brought him the news. He continued to speak with her as the room of young shinobi began to get out of hand.

A young Genin from the Hidden Grass was arguing with the boy sitting beside him. Another girl, with a Hidden Rock Village forehead protector around her neck, slammed her hands on the table as she fumed at the boy standing in front of her. The entire room was in chaos.

Amidst the disorder, Shizuka felt a hand tap her shoulder lightly. She turned around to see Itachi who had a seriousness about him that told her he knew exactly what needed to be done. He held his hand out to her, and she took it hesitantly as he spoke, "staying here will do us no good. If anything it would be best to get to the bottom of this and return to report to Lord Hokage."

The white-haired kunoichi nodded her head as she stood up. The two off them weave through the pandemonium. Itachi had to dodge a punch when someone was trying to hit another person across the aisle out of anger. Shizuka swore that she saw a shuriken fly across the room and lodge itself in the ceiling by the chalkboard in the front of the room. By the time the two young genins made it to door where they had entered the room, their blue-haired teammate was already standing there.

"What took you two so long? I thought I was gonna fall asleep waiting for you two," Ao taunted as he pushed himself off of the wall. His smile was overshadowed by a more solemn expression,"we should get going."

The snowy-haired girl nodded her head and stepped out of the room with her two teammates without a backwards glance.

The strong wind blew through her hair as she ran across the rooftops of the Hidden Leaf. Behind her, her two teammates sprinted, following her lead. There was another large explosion to their right, making them stop and turn their heads to see a rising pillar of smoke emanating from an envelopment of red and orange flames.

The team stopped on one of the taller roofs and glanced at one another. The first to speak was Itachi. He approached the white-haired girl with a worrisome look, placing a hand on her shoulder gently. "Should we go check that out first?"

"But we need to get to Lord Hokage, he might have an idea of what's going on," Ao countered with a frown. He pointed in the direction of the pillar of smoke. "I'm sure the forces there can handle the attack. Even if we were to go there, we wouldn't be much–"

The blue-haired boy was cut off by another loud boom. This time it was on the entirely opposite side of the village. Turning their heads to the West, a second pillar of smoke arose with an even larger flame.

"We need to hurry, or else that side will burn down. If the wall burns down, everyone will be in trouble!" Itachi let out a frustrated noise."Not just the citizens, but us shinobi too. We'll be weak because of the destruction of the outer wall."

"But Lord Hokage is in charge. He has the greatest judgment _and _he knows the most important place to put us. With our skills, I don't think we'd be able to take the forces of the enemy on our own."

As her two teammates argued over which course of action to take, Shizuka curled her fingers into tight fists. Closing her eyes, she thought about what the best way to go about the situation was.

'_It's such an unheard of situation. All skilled Jonin and Chunin are missing from the scene. Unknown invaders. Dad isn't anywhere to be seen... Something's fishy...' _Another strong wind blew between the three of them, breaking Shizuka off.

There was a dark chuckle and then, standing in front of them was a man in a long-sleeved cloak. His face was obscured by the hood of his cloak and the hilt of two swords peeked over his broad shoulders. "Why if it isn't the Hokage's Daughter? The youngest hero of Konoha yet. What a surprise to see you here."

* * *

A/N: _Sorry about last week, Labor Day Celebration party and work got in the way... _ And school sort of just started and Pre-AP Chem is already killing me... Please forgive me! But on a different note: Love you all! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ^_^_

_Oh! And in response to **Coolestbee**'s review: It isn't exactly a MinatoxShisui pairing...It's just really the list of characters since they're the main canon characters (+Itachi). Sasuke probably won't be mentioned much, unless I'm talking about Naruto and him in the Academy. I haven't decided what to do with his relationship with Naruto yet since...yeah... *shrugs* If you're looking for him, I promise you I will incorporate him more in the future ^_^_


	10. Ch 9: Know Your Enemies

Chapter 9: Know Your Enemies

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A chilling blast of wind hit the three genin as they fall deathly silent. The man standing a few feet in front of them drew one of his swords swiftly. He flipped it around with a strong flick of his wrist, landing the blade gracefully in his left hand in a backhand grip.

"Your legend ends here," the man's voice had a heavy accent as he spoke to Shizuka. "As does your life."

The hooded man lunged at her before she realized what was happening. Just as she was about to draw a kunai to reflect the attack, her view was blocked by strands of midnight black hair. Short sword in hand, Itachi blocked the attack at the last second. Almost immediately after, Shizuka's hands moved fluidly through a set of hand signs. She didn't have enough time to think about what jutsu it was before a cloud of water formed over the mysterious man and rain began to fall only on him. She heard a sizzling sound, the caustic crackle of burning material.

'_Suiton: Ame no Sanryuu.'*_

As soon as the young kunoichi realizes that the technique she used was acidic, the man jumped away from the roof. Where he was once standing, a blotched spot of acid-burned tile had taken his place. When she looked from Itachi, at her side, to the man in front, she could see holes in his black cloak where the acid had seared the fabric. While Shizuka is busy observing the effect of her jutsu, a sliver of blue passes by her peripheral vision as Ao sprints by with his wrist-blades flicked out.

"Itachi!"

The younger boy groans in frustration, "I know, I know!" In the air, Itachi whips out eight shuriken, expertly woven between his fingers, and flings them towards his blue-haired teammate. Just as the throwing stars reach him, Ao flips so that his body is parallel to the ground. He twirls around, redirecting each shuriken with his wrist-blades so that they are aimed towards the enemy.

Shizuka can't help but smile, remembering this technique as the one their sensei, Genma, had taught them. She takes a deep breath, feeling the chakra in her stomach shift for her technique before she releases the breath and a large spurt of water shoots towards the man.

'_Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!'*_

The three Genin look up, hopeful that their team attack had worked on the man, '_did it work?'_

The mist that had accompanied Shizuka's water bullet finally subsides, revealing the man with both his swords drawn, one crossed over the other. There is a faint shimmer of a chakra shield, the chakra streaming through the two swords. In the next second, a blast of water is redirected back. The large wave hits the three of them, sweeping them off their feet. When the wave passes, Shizuka feels the air beneath her and with one glance down, she realizes that she's several meters off of the ground. Just as she begins to plummet towards the earth, a hand grabs her arm firmly.

"Gotcha."

Her eyes trail up the outstretched arm and Shizuka finds herself face-to-face with unfamiliar features to match with the foreign voice. The boy that caught her had short, disheveled hair. His skin was as pale as porcelain and his hair was a light, sandy color. A gleaming, silver Hidden Sand hitai-ate was tied around his forehead with a black cloth, pushing back his sandy bangs from his pale green, pupil-less eyes.

"Hold on, I'll pull you up," the boy gave her a soft smile before placing his other hand on the edge of the roof to give himself a push. As he was pulling her up, Shizuka's eyes widened when she remembered her other two teammates. She searched around the two of them and let out a silent sigh of relief when she saw her friends floating on a bed of what looked like insects. On another roof, Shiki stood with his arms outstretched before him as if to control the insects.

'_Hakkeshou Kaiten!_'

The white-haired girl turns her head to see a whirl of chakra reflecting a series of tiny daggers, making them hit each other with a clang. Shizuka knelt beside the boy who had pulled her up just as a huge gust of wind blew over her head. She watched as the man, in a now tattered cloak, saw the wind a second too late and was knocked off his feet. His hood is knocked back, revealing his face.

Shizuka's eyes lock with the man's which are the same silver color. A long deep scar runs from the man's right temple, touching the edge of his silver eyes–down the right side of his face and neck–before disappearing into his cloak. A mark on the top left of the man's forehead glimmered, making Shizuka think that she had been imagining it. Just as quickly as his identity was revealed, the man sheathed both his swords and disappeared in the blink of her eyes.

"Shizuka!" The called girl turned her head just as arms encircled around her tightly. Her vision was clouded by black hair for a second before the boy pulled away. "Are you okay? You aren't hurt anywhere are you?"

Itachi's eyes widened in worry, looking her up and down for any injuries even when she shook her head no. A soft chuckle broke Itachi's attention away from her, his posture stiffened and he stood in front of her protectively. "Hidden Sand..." He growled."what do you want?"

The boy who had chuckled was noticeably taller the Itachi–at least by half a head. He folded the large fan in his hands closed before strapping it to his back. He had light brown hair that lay flat against his face and violet eyes that shimmered with mischief. He crossed his thin arms with a smirk, "don't worry, I'm not gonna steal your little '_Shizuka_' from you. She's not my type anyway."

A familiar face strode over, but his lips were turned down in worry. Shizuka could imagine Shiki's eyebrows pulling together underneath his blindfold. The young Aburame was only a few feet away before he spoke, "are you alright? I was worried we wouldn't get here in time."

"Tch, why did we need to go for them of all people? Why not..." the lavender-eyed boy who approached stopped short when he remembered that the only other teams they could've looked for annoyed him even more. Besides, Shikato, Inoki and him together? Now that would be a horrendous team. "Never mind."

A girl with black hair that brushed her confident shoulders trotted up, lightly hitting the light-haired boy with her palm. "You are way too harsh," she rolled eyes at him as he rubbed the back of his head. The girl turned to Shizuka with her hand outstretched, "I guess I should really introduce us, I'm Yuriko. This is my idiot of a brother, R–"

"Shut_ up_, you are so annoying!" This earned him another smacked on the head before Shizuka could shake Yuriko's hand, "if you keep doing that, I can't guarantee that you'll get all my awesome smarts–ow!"

Yuriko hit him again before jerking her head towards Itachi and Shizuka, "introduce yourself, idiot!"

"Geez...is this a way to treat your brother?" He flinched when she raised her hand again, "fine, fine!" He turned to the two younger genins. "I'm Ren," he spread his arms wide, "Master of the Winds!"

"So he wishes," Yuriko mutters under her breath. Her expression lightens before she turns to the boy who had caught Shizuka earlier with an expectant look in her eyes.

Taking this as his cue, the sandy-haired boy stepped forward, "you can call me Haru."

"Where's Karen?" Shizuka turned her head backwards to see Ao, looking at Tokuma and Shiki with worrisome eyes. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine–"

"She's resting in the hospital. She received a poisonous cut earlier, so we took her there," Shiki interrupted the Hyuuga. His quiet voice was stretched and coated with stress. "The nurse said she'll be fine...but I'm not so sure..."

Ao's blue eyebrows pulled together, but his expression immediately changed when he finally looked at Yuriko and her team. "I'm sorry, I'm Ao–"

"Blueberry," Itachi muttered under his breath before speaking a bit louder to the three, "Itachi. Uchiha Itachi and this is Shizuka."

The white-haired girl smiles with a small wave of her hand. Yuriko was about to open her mouth to say something, when another explosion cuts her off. The eight of them turn their heads to see another rising pillar of fire and smoke in the West.

"We should head over in that direction, make camp there. Wait for the enemy to show their faces," Itachi comments, it was as if creating a team with the Hidden Sand ninjas–some well-known enemies of the Leaf—didn't bother him. Ao clearly showed his discomfort at working with the three, but kept silent.

Shizuka caught Itachi's eyes and nodded, confusing the others with their unspoken words. The two exchanged several glances before the white-haired girl turned around and sprinted off towards the setting sun.

"Well, you heard the _mute_ girl," Tokuma rolled his pale eyes. "That way we go..."

By the time the eight of them reached the border of the village, night had fallen. Ao had suggested that they go after the man before, but Itachi argued that it would be best to set up camp and rest for the time being. They took a vote, and it seemed that the majority had been in favor of Itachi's plan. After the sun set, Ren had suggested that they make a fire, but Shiki had softly answered that it would only bring attention to them.

Before he knew it, Haru was sitting on one of the thick branches of the trees across from Shiki who looked to be asleep–but of course, he would never know with the blindfold over the said boy's eyes. The two of them were_ supposed_ to be on guard duty though.

Haru was fiddling with the chain around his neck, staring down at the little silver tag with his name engraved onto it. It had been a present from his late aunt, Karura. He missed her dearly, but remembering her youngest son–his cousin, Gaara–broke his heart the most. Despite what the others said, he tried to spend as much of his time with the boy as possible. He knew that she loved her baby boy and he would do anything to make her happy even if she had already passed on. He would even defend the poor auburn-haired boy. However, "as much of his time as possible" was almost once every three months. Karura may have been his aunt, but she seemed more like a mother to him since both his parents had passed away when he was a mere two-year-old and _she_ had been the one to look after him.

His thin fingers absent-mindedly rubbed the grooves of the engraved characters on the gleaming tag. The beams of moonlight that escaped the tree leaves reflected off of its smooth surface, when he tilted it a certain way. Haru turned his head to look up into the sky. Through the autumn-colored leaves, he could see the waning moon shining overhead. There was a rustle below, making him turn his head back downwards. His pale green eyes catch the sight of silver being reflected off of Shizuka's snow hair, making it look like polished silver. Her body looked relaxed–leaning against the large tree trunk–however, her muscles were tensed around a small, sheathed sword.

For some reason, Haru couldn't avert his eyes from her small body, which looked so frail and...easily breakable. The white light of the moon created a sort of glowing halo around her head. He didn't know what, but something made him **want** to protect her.

"You're staring..." Shiki's voice broke him away from the girl. "Is something wrong with Shizuka?"

The sand-haired boy shook his head, but then furrowed his eyebrows. How could a boy–who's eyes were covered by a blindfold–see what he was looking at? Haru opened his mouth to ask, but it was as if the Aburame had sensed his question.

"My bugs," was his simple answer. When Haru's confusion didn't subside, he added, "they're my eyes. It's a blood contract the Clan made me sign. I was born blind and–"

"Don't underestimate him," a boy with blue hair leapt up onto the younger's branch. "Shiki's an amazing _blind_ fighter...and a wonderful friend," he turned his head to Shiki, "I'm here to relieve you."

Haru could've sworn that he saw a faint blush appearing on the Aburame's cheeks, but it was so dark that it was nearly impossible to tell. Haru twirled a kunai around his finger and he watched as small grains of sand came up to swirl around his hand.

"Sand?"

He turned his head to the blue-haired boy–whose name he had forgotten. He could tell that the boy only wanted to start a conversation, but Haru had never been the type to talk with strangers. "Yeah..."

"Why...sand?" the boy's question sounded so alien to his ears. No one had ever asked him why, it was an element of which that moved with his thoughts–that protected him from the world like his aunt had.

Haru stared at his hand as the sand twirled around his fingers, weaving in and out between them. "It just...is," he took a small breath before attempting to continue the conversation. Something he had never done before, unless it was with his baby cousin. "Uhm...what's your name again?" The question wasn't just to start a conversation, but because...Haru had–in all honesty–forgotten the boy's name.

"Oh, Ao. Kimura Ao," the boy responded while leaning his back against the tree trunk. He put his hands behind his head in such a relaxed manner that Haru believed that he didn't take this invasion very seriously."I know you're awake, Shizuka. Why don't you come join us?"

A bit shocked, Haru glanced down only to find that Shizuka had disappeared from her resting spot. When he looked back up, she was sitting beside her teammate, her thin legs swinging back and forth off on the tree branch.

"Can't sleep?" She shook her head before leaning backwards on her hands. Ao closed his eyes, "then why don't you let me take a rest. I'll switch shifts with you."

He yawned then, but didn't bother to cover up his mouth. Stretching his arms, Ao patted the girl's shoulder lightly with a grin before pushing himself off of the tree branch and down where the rest of their team was.

"Night."

Shizuka was looking up at the sky through the thick leaves. Her feet kicked back and forth, her feet alternating. Spots of moonlight looked like silver droplets on her white hair and pale face. Five minutes later, Shizuka turned her head, her pale silvery ones meeting his own sea-green ones.

And then, he realized it. '_It's something about her eyes,_' he thought. Something about them made her seem so...in need of protection from the cruelty of this Shinobi world. They shined with a certain type of beauty that stole his breath every time he looked at her. The way they looked at him so kindly made his heart skip a beat.

She turned her head to the side in curiosity, as if asking him if something was wrong. Shaking his head, Haru spoke, "Oh no. It's...nothing..."

He pulled his feet up and wrapped his arms around them, resting his chin on his knees. Resisting the urge to look at her again, Haru thought about how she would never like him for three reasons. One: he was a Hidden Sand shinobi. Suna and Konoha may join together for the Chunin Exams, but everyone knew that the relationship between the two villages were wearing thin. Two: He lived in Suna, she lived in Konoha. The distance would probably be too great for them to see each other often. And three: she would probably hate him if she found out what was sealed within him. Maybe not hate...but _fear_...

Haru lifted his hand up, letting the sand swirl around his fingers, weaving in and out. He let out a sigh, thinking, '_is this what people call "love at first sight"?'_

A monster. That was what he was. There wasn't anyone like him, but Gaara in the world. Still, he felt saddened and lonely. Yuriko and Ren were just friendly towards him because they were teammates and didn't want him to hurt them.

Turning his head down, Haru could see Ren leaning against a tree trunk. In his arms was his sister's slightly smaller body, her head resting in the crook of her brother's neck.

'_Twins...'_ he thought, blowing his bangs up and out of his eyes. _'I wish I had a brother...or a sister...'_

A soft breeze blew through his hair, making him look up. He was suddenly eye-to-eye with Shizuka. She now sat in front of him on his branch, holding out her hand. Confused, Haru looked between her hand and her eyes, not sure of what she wanted him to do.

A minute passed and Shizuka finally reaches out her hand so that her finger is touching his forearm. Her cold fingers brush across his sand-covered skin and it isn't until she's repeated herself several times that he realizes that she was trying to say something.

'_Are you alright?'_

"I...I'm fine," Haru managed to utter. She reached over to write on his arm again and he felt a small shock and a comfortable tingle wherever her finger touched. "...really..." He added, as a sort of afterthought.

'_You don't look very–'_

He probably would never know what she was going to say because there was a sudden rustle in the leaves above them. The kind of rustle that came from a human and not a small squirrel. A second later, Haru's eyes caught the gleam of the moonlight on metal.

"Watch out!" he grabbed her arm, flipping both of them off of the branch. Using the sand to cushion his fall, Haru rolled with his arms around Shizuka protectively...well at least she had been there when they'd fallen. He looked down at his arms to see a faint, shimmering silver mark that looked like a broken circle with three lines piercing its edges–connecting it to the smaller circle inside–crawling around his arms and making itself home on his wrist. The mark curled around his arm, making its home at the bottom of his wrist. It looked as if someone had taken a silver metallic pen and drawn on his pale white skin.

There was a small explosion where he and Shizuka had been sitting before and he could only assume that it had been the kunai he saw attached to an explosive tag. A hand grabbed Haru's shoulder, and he immediately turned around, the sand in his hand had hardened into the shape of a kunai.

"Wait, it's me!"

It was Ren, his fan was taken off of his back and he had one end stuck in the ground to hold his weight. Around them, everyone was already awake and alert. Without a word, Itachi's body seemed to disintegrate into ash, but Haru pushed it aside as his imagination. Shiki spread his arms out in front of him and a gathering of insects flew out around them in a protective ring.

There was a loud crack and a large tree branch fell between them, showering the genin with a flood of moonlight. He could see it clearly now. Over twenty masked men stood around them in a suffocating circle. All of them had their weapons drawn and no forehead protector marked their allegiance to any village.

All Haru could do was stare wide-eyed, his comrades at his sides had their weapons drawn, but they seemed to be no match for the force against them. There were three people missing though, but he didn't have time to wonder where Shizuka, Itachi and Yuriko had vanished off to. A rally of kunai rained upon them, and Haru closed his eyes as a large carpet of sand hid the five of them from the moon.

When he opened his eyes again, someone had charged at him, their sword only inches away from his throat. The young Sand genin gritted his teeth, cursing himself for letting his guard down.

"HARU!"

"NO!"

* * *

Jutsu Names:

_Suiton: Ame no Sanryuu - _Water Style: Rain of the Acid Dragon

_Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu _- Water Style: Water Bullet Technique

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A/N:_ Hi there~ I would like to take the time to thank all of my readers! I apologize ahead of time if I won't be able to update next week. However, I'll do my best! Thank's for taking your time to read this petty note Hope you enjoyed the chapter!_


	11. Ch 10: Light of the Midnight Shadows

Chapter 10: The Light of the Midnight Shadows

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"HARU!"

Everything in Haru's mind clears out, he feels rigid. He's panicking as the time begins to slow down; the sword coming towards his throat seems to be _inching_ towards him. Deadly and sinister. He makes no move to block the attack, thinking, '_why try and stop the inevitable?'_

A flash of white crosses Haru's vision, and he feels himself falling. '_Is it over? Am I...dead?'_

_'RASENGAN!'_

When he opens his eyes again, Haru finds Shizuka standing in front of him, her hand thrust into the man's stomach. Something in her palm is whirling around in a sphere and in the next second, it's gone and the man is knocked against the sturdy trunk of a tree several meters away. The black cloth that had covered his stomach seemed to have ripped away, revealing a hole in the man's armor and his bruised abdomen.

A curtain of white-hair blocked his view of his attacker when the wind blew between them. He looked up, almost mistaking the little girl in front of him for an angel with the silver halo around her head.

"Haru! Lift up the sand, I can't see!" Yuriko's familiar voice broke through his thoughts and he let the sand fall, like grainy rain drops.

"_Fūton: Kaze Tanken!_"

A blast of air blows out from their area, sending out daggers of wind towards their attackers. Ren swings his large fan down, lifting the giant fan up so that the large blue crescent moon on its face is visible. It seemed to glimmer in the moonlight as he brought it down, bringing a slicing wind down with it. Groans could be heard from the men surrounding them, but they weren't given any time to rest.

Itachi's body pieces together again like puzzle pieces as he finished a chain of hand seals. He placed his index and middle fingers right under his lips in a tiger seal,

"_Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!_"

It looked as if he had become a flamethrower as the flames spurt out from his lips and around the perimeter. Each of the genins dropped to the damp ground so that the flames barely missed their heads.

Someone jumped towards Itachi as he spun around with flames blasting from his mouth, but just as the man came down on him with a sword, Yuriko was there at his back, her large scythe in hand. She swiped the large weapon across the unsuspecting man's chest, coating the edge of the blade with crimson blood.

Just as that man fell limp to the ground another man leapt at her, but before his blade could even come close to hitting the scythe user, a whirl of chakra burst up in front of her.

"_Hakke Sanjuni Shou_!"

Tokuma had stood up before her, his fingers stabbing at the man who had stepped into his envisioned Eight Trigrams circle. Veins marked the sides of his face, close by his eyes, showing that his Byakugan had been activated. He makes two quick hits, before taking a step back as if taking a breath. Then another two quick hits and a brief cutback. Next he made four, then eight. Ending on a forceful sixteen hits, Tokuma flips back, his back touching Yuriko's as she swung her scythe down to cut down another enemy.

"Not bad, _White-Eyes_," Yuriko smirked, turning her head back slightly to look at him. He did the same, his activated Byakugan eyes shining with a type of mischief that his teammates had never seen before.

"_Kikaichuu: Kudakeru Nami."_

A swarm of Shiki's insects seem to flood out of nowhere, rolling across the battlefield like waves of the sea. There are drowning screams from some of the men as they are dragged underneath the black of Shiki's crashing waves of insects. Perching on one of the trees, Ao suddenly dives down. He stands on the shoulders of one of the masked men and flicks out his wrist blades before cutting a deep gash in the man's back. Just as the man falls down into the sea of insects, Ao leaps back up, a wire shooting from the bottom of his wrist and tying itself around a branch. He pulls himself up as the cord retracts, crouching on the thin branch.

Atop another tree branch, Shizuka sucks in a large breath, brushing stray strands of her hair away from her face. Her irises are a pitch black color–the exact opposite of its usual color–except for a red swirl that curls around her invisible pupil. The newest addition to her eyes were two faint green lines that boxed out the upper, outer quadrant of her irises in both eyes.

'_Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!'_

A huge spray, similar in size to Itachi's flames, of water floods down on the men as the rest of the team jump up and into the trees. Shizuka lets a sigh as the silvery strands of her hair drop into her eyes. Her breaths are silent, but uneven as she nearly collapses onto the branch. Her activated eyes dart from person to person, looking for her teammates. However, the sight that she saw only brought worry and discomfort to her heart. She could see Itachi's flaring chakra as he fought five oncoming shinobi, Ao's chakra seemed to be going haywire as a genjutsu fell over him, Tokuma fell to his knees, the lines of his chakra system seemed to be calming down–he had used too much chakra.

On her other side, Shizuka watched as Shiki's smaller chakra system was being trapped around by larger ones that seemed to be pouring out their excessive power. Yuriko and Ren stand side by side, protecting a collapsed Haru as he takes in shallow breaths. Sand seemed to drip from his face like tears as the shielding clumps of sand in the air around them began to thin out. Yuriko received a cut on her left arm and as she clutched it, Ren was distracted in his worry for her that several thin darts pierce his right arm, making him drop his large fan with a cry of agony.

Just a minute ago, the eight of them had seemed to have the upper hand. But now, their power seemed to be dropping and no matter how many of the masked men they chopped down, only more seemed to spring up from the midnight shadows. Shizuka's small hands curl into fists as she watches her teammates' efforts go to waste.

Someone is suddenly at her side and she brings up her arm to block the man's attack. The force of the kick is absorbed into her arm and a second later it sends her flying across the forest, like an aftereffect. She hits one of the tree trunks before falling onto her side. As she is pushing herself up off of the ground, her eyes look up to see another man holding a sword over her head. Just as the he swings, someone is in front of her.

Yuriko's longer arms wrap around the smaller girl protectively and a bloodcurdling scream escapes from her lips as the sword cuts across her back. Shizuka's eyes widen as the Sand kunoichi's grip weakens around her body. "Sorry...Shizuka," the dark-haired girl pants. "This...is as far...as I go..."

Her body falls limply onto Shizuka's smaller body before dropping to the ground. Her large scythe drops onto the ground beside her body silently. All the white-haired girl can do is stare wide-eyed at the girl who had fallen right before her, the life escaping from the girl's eyes. Shizuka stares in horror as blood drips down from the corner of Yuriko's lips. Through her tears, she watches as Ren drops to his knees beside her. His arms cradle Yuriko's lifeless body as a loud cry of agony resounds throughout the forest. Her hands tremble as she reaches out for the older girl's hand, but as he wails, Ren pulls his twin's body closer to him, consequently away from her.

Shizuka flinches back, not wanting to disturb or upset the already grieving brother. She looks up, her eyes scanning their crowded battlefield. Haru's sand curls around him tightly before flicking out like a whip. The anger is clear in his eyes as a monstrous form begins to take over his body. The sand around his hands gathers together, creating a claw, with abstract strands of purple curling around. The white sclera of his left eye turns black and his pale green iris is now yellow with a star-like shape as the pupil. He yells, flashing sharp fangs.

'_It's _him_...'_ a deep voice growls in the back of her mind. '_Shukaku...long time no see, brother..._'

The white-haired girl pushes the voice aside, as she looks around frantically for her teammates. She can feel a deep surge of power within herself and as she stares down at her hands, Shizuka could see the malicious red chakra bubbling up to the surface from beneath her skin. Sharp fangs, almost identical to Haru's protrude from her lips and she lets out a loud, ferocious roar.

She leaps up, throwing her arm around to grab one of the black-clothed men. An arm of red chakra extends from her own body, wrapping around one of the men surrounding Shiki. She forcefully pulls her arm back, dragging the unsuspecting man with her. She lets out another feral growl before a _rasengan_ with flecks of black and red appears in her hand; Shizuka thrusts the ball of chakra into the man's stomach. He flies out from her grasp, flying across the forest and colliding with another man that was standing in front of Itachi.

The long-haired Uchiha whips his head around, in shock when he sees the red bubbling cloak around Shziuka's small body. He screams out to her, she can see his lips forming words, but she hears nothing.

"SHIZUKA!"

His voice begins to soften, grow distant as her vision begins to fade. She feels suffocating, as if she's being pulled underneath the waves of a stormy sea. Then, as if she had fallen past the ocean, Shizuka drops to her knees in a cool, damp room. A thin layer of water covers the ground and the persistent sound of dripping water echoes throughout the dimly-lit room and corridors. In front of her is a very familiar cage. Behind the bars of the prison is the sinister Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

"Shizuka," his voice is low and feral. "Take it. Take my power for your aid. Your own power will never be enough to save those weak people you call your _friends_."

She stares up at the large fox as if she were unaffected by the fox's harsh words and begins to walk over in a trance. She moved slowly, in a genjutsu-like state. When she is at one of the bars, which are twice her size in diameter, she reaches a hand out to take the Nine-Tails chakra for help.

"_Sako_," the white-haired genin's eyes snap open at the name, as if she had just broken a genjutsu. A familiar name, very familiar, but from where Shizuka couldn't remember. She turns around from the fox's extended claw, in search of the source of the voice. "_You are my strong little girl..."_

Suddenly, Shizuka finds herself in a small opened kitchen. Her vision is faded at the edges, the way it would be in a dream. _A white-haired man dressed in loose, blue clothing is hunched over something at the table. He pulls away, rolling his stiff shoulders as he mutters something to himself about how the corners of the eye just didn't seem to be curved right. _

_The slam of a door catches Shizuka's attention. She turns her head to see a small girl running into the room. Her snow white hair is tipped with dark brown mud, one of her eyes are ruby red and the other is a pale whitish silver. Despite her quick steps, they're as silent as any well-trained shinobi would be. Following after her is a wolf pup with fur as black as darkness itself. It's tiny, muddy paws left tracks on the polished wooden floors of the kitchen like the girl's soiled sandals. _

_"Sako..." the man spoke sternly. When he turned around, Shizuka squinted her eyes, but the light of the lamp above them hid his face from her. She tried to move her head to better see the man's face, but the glare of the light seemed to follow her wherever she went. Giving up, Shizuka stood still beside the wooden doorframe, watching the scene with interest. "You know your mother just cleaned the floors..."_

_Sako turned around, her mismatched eyes widening when she saw the tracks of mud on the brown floor. She bit her lip nervously, twiddling her thumbs as she looked down at the floor shamefully. "I'm sorry..." _

_At her side, the little wolf bowed it's head in the same manner. When it whimpered, Sako's shame was gone and her attention was fully on the wolf pup. _

_"It's not your fault, Toboe!"_

_The white-haired man chuckled, "Toboe?"_

_"It's his name!" Sako puffed her cheeks out when the man just laughed some more. He stood up, towering over her as he reached a large hand down to ruffle her long white hair. "He saved me from the snakes! He's so strong! He scared those snakes off with his howl too!"_

_Someone knocked on the wooden doorframe beside Shizuka, making her whip her head around to see a tall, young woman. Her hair was just as long as Kushina's but instead of crimson strands, they were silvery white ones. _

_The woman standing in the doorway didn't say a word, but her arms were crossed across her chest and a light eyebrow was raised. It was almost like she was asking, 'N_ow what exactly is going on here?_'_

_The man raised the little girl up so that she was sitting in his arms. "Well, you see here, Sako has brought home a little friend named Toboe." The woman didn't speak, she pulled a finger out of her crossed arms, pointing at the muddy tracks on the floor with a tilt of her head. _

_"Oka-san! Don't punish him! Toboe saved me from these __**huge **__snake," Sako spread her arms in front of herself as if to demonstrate the snakes' size. When the woman's expression didn't change, the little girl looked back down at her fidgeting fingers with a pout. "You know what I'm like..when there are...snakes..." _

_Seeing the little girl's upset expression, the woman's eyes softened. Her silvery blue eyes were very similar to one of the tiny girl's eyes. She walked over to the man who held her daughter and reaches a hand up to touch her hair. _

_Sako flinched at her hand at first, as if she had expected to be hit. She looked at her mother in confusion, but when she saw the woman's softer expression her fear of being hit dissipated. Sako opened her arms up and her mother happily takes her in her own arms. _

_"So, what do you say?" _

_The white-haired woman looked up at the man who had been holding her daughter just a second ago. A light smile plays at the corner of her lips as she watches the man cross his arms over his chest. His broad shoulders shift a bit in amusement when the woman rolls her eyes. _

_She reaches a hand over and the man opens his palm up to her. Her thin fingers trail across the man's scarred palm and the smile at the corner of his lips spread across. "'If you can take care of him. We can keep Toboe.'" he repeats the words written onto his palm._

_The small girl's eyes brighten up, as does her smile. The wolf pup at the family's feet barks, a canine smile on his sharp teeth. His unique, deep blue eyes stare up at the family as he hops on his hind legs. _

_"We should give both of you a bath," the man muttered, but judging by his voice, Shizuka could imagine the smirk on his lips. He lifted up the small pup with one large hand and places his free one on the small of the woman's back. "Come on, ladies. Let's go."_

_Sako giggles as she buries her face in her mother's pure hair. Shizuka follows after the family silently up the stairs. She follows them into a room, where the woman sets Sako down while the man goes into a room that Shizuka assumes is the bathroom. He comes back with a damp towel and begins to wipe off the little girl's face while the white-haired woman picks up the wolf pup to wash up._

_"You know, Sako, you need to be more careful about these things," the man spoke softly, wiping the little girl's face lightly. The care reflected from his touch was obvious as he cleaned up her face. He planted a light kiss on the girl's cheek when he was done. "Your mother doesn't like her wood floors to be tracked with mud an hour after she's done cleaning it..."_

_The tiny girl giggles a bit, but when she sees the seriousness printed on her fathers face, she stops. Seeing her guilty expression, he chuckles and taps her chin to tell her to keep it up. _

_"Don't look like that. Be proud," he chuckled. "Keep your chin are my strong little girl."_

_Sako spoke softly, her voice almost a whisper, "Oka-san...if you, Otou-san and Toboe are with me, I'll never be afraid of anything anymore."_

Suddenly, Shizuka's vision becomes even more blurry. She squints her eyes, before everything turns entirely black. She dizzily staggers around in the darkness, and suddenly she finds herself surrounded by trees. Above her the stars continue to shine brightly, but the sky seems to be lightening up a bit to the rising sun.

The sound of a sword being pulled out of its sheath catches her attention, and Shizuka whips around so fast that a wave of dizziness hits her again. About three feet away, the man gets ready to pull the sword down on her, but just as he swings a large black wolf jumps up from behind her, sinking it's sharp fangs into the man's shoulder.

Blood spurts out from the man's wound and the wolf pushes itself off of the man's body, throwing him to the ground. The wolf snarls, standing in front of Shizuka as if guarding her. It snaps at the man's ankles when he falls, the small white-haired girl stares into the eyes of the wolf. She realizes that the wolf's body isn't actually as big as she had thought in the beginning.

Its black fur flattens against its skin as its lips curl up in a fierce snarl. The remaining moonlight reflects off the wolf's deep blue eyes–making it look like a flickering cool, blue flame—and its fur look like sheets of black metal. Even with its feral appearance, Shizuka saw a sadness behind its eyes. The wolf ran forward, where a large fallen tree blocked the path. It casted one last look back at her before turning around again and sprinting off.

"Shizuka!"

As she felt herself fall backwards, two thin, but strong, arms wrapped around her protectively. Her eyes looked up and against the starry sky, she saw Itachi. His usually dark and emotionless eyes were glazed over with worry and...something else. Fear? But what did he have to fear? Or maybe it was something entirely different. She couldn't tell.

"Shizuka! Stay with me!" she could feel him shaking her shoulders as her eyes fluttered shut. No matter how hard she tried, her eyes just wouldn't stay open.

Just as the darkness took over her conscience, Shizuka heard a distant, lonely howl from a wolf and couldn't help but wonder:

'_Why does he sound so sad...? Why did he look so...sad...?_'

* * *

_**Jutsu Names:**_

_Fūton: Kaze Tanken _- Wind Style: Dagger of Wind

_Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu_ - Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu

_Hakke Sanjuni Shou_- Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms

_Kikaichuu: Kudakeru Nami_ - Parasitic Destructive Insects: Crashing Waves

_Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu_ - Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ Hi there, I am so so so sorry about missing last week's update! Really, I tried! But, my beta and I were having a bit of trouble with bits and pieces here and there...It's probably still not perfect, but here it is! Hope you enjoyed it! ^_^_


	12. Ch 11: Allies to be Trusted

Chapter 11: Allies to be Trusted

* * *

The song of the morning birds drifted through the open window. A small breeze blows in two small, light green leaves–connected at the stem. The pair settles itself beside a small green card that is folded up to stand, underneath a vase of fresh flowers.

Shizuka's eyes flutter open. She stares up at the holes in the white ceiling tiles, wondering where she was. She tries to lift up her right hand to rub her eyes, but finds it anchored down by something. Turning her head to the side, her lips brush against someone's forehead and the person stirs in their sleep.

"Sh..." the person mumbles, their voice muffled into her arm. "..zu..."

Suddenly, the person's arm drapes across her stomach, pulling her even closer to them. The small, white-haired girl stiffens up at the movement. Slowly, she pulls her head over to the side and turns to see the person's face.

Soft, long black hair brushes against her arm while she moves, and she comes face-to-face with a sleeping Itachi. Seeing him, she nudges his shoulder with her other hand, to see that it's fully bandaged.

'_What...happened?_'

Images of the midnight ambush flashed through her mind. The sight of Haru's monstrous transformation–just the memory of that sinister yellow eye made her shiver. Shiki's helplessness against the large gang of five masked men. Yuriko's...death.

Tears pricked her eyes when she thought of the young Sand kunoichi. She had bravely protected her, knowing that she would die.

Shizuka was so deep in thought about the older girl that she hadn't realized that Itachi was awake. His long fingers, brushed her cheek, catching her attention. "Why...are you crying?"

She shook her head, unsure of how to tell him with just plain written words. But she didn't need to. Before she could even draw words onto his arm, he had pulled her into a tight hug.

"Don't cry..." he whispered. His arms were awkwardly wrapped around her in a half hug; it was a gesture he wasn't used to giving, even though Shisui had done it to him many times for comfort.

A knock on the door interrupted their moment, Itachi quickly pulled away, sitting up at the edge of her bed. Just as soon as the knock had resounded, the door opened and two people rushed in. A woman with luscious, red hair and man with bright, yellow hair. Both immediately rushed to Shizuka's bedside, the woman voicing all her concerns.

"Shi-chan!" The redhead embraced the small girl tightly. Something wet dripped onto her bare shoulders, and she realized that it was her mother's tears. "I was so worried! How do you feel? Does it hurt? Are you cold? Wait, maybe you're hot."

Slowly, Shizuka brought her arms up to gently pat her mother's back. If she could use her voice, she would tell her that she was fine and there was no need to worry. Her eyes trailed over to her best friend to see that his entire body was bandaged. There were small reddish-brown spots where blood seemed to have dried a bit, but some redder spots were still slowly creeping across the bandages.

She reached one hand out to touch his shoulders, but suddenly her view was blocked by the face of her worried father. His blue-eyes were shining with a thin sheen of tears as he took her outstretched hand. He squeezed it tightly, "You're okay, right? Are you hungry? I wouldn't be surprised after–"

Minato stopped, as did Kushina, when Shizuka pushed herself up. She had a distant look on her face as she turned her face away from her parents

"Shizuka?"

The addressed girl turned to her father who sat himself down where Itachi had just stood up from. She watched as the Uchiha limped over to the bed beside hers, over her father's shoulder.

"Itachi is fine, but you're in an even worse condition than he is," Minato placed his larger hand against the side of her head. His finger caressed the top of her head, rubbing her silvery white hair. Shizuka lifted her forearm up into her field of vision, only to see it wrapped up entirely, not an inch of her skin showing. "You need to rest and take care of your body."

There was another knock on the door, but there was no sound of the door clicking open. A tall man wearing a black, sleeveless blouse with black pants stepped in. On the right side of his chest, above his heart, the emblem of the Imperial Country was sewn–the symbol of Yin and Yang. A long dragon, tattooed in light blue, curls around his forearms and two sword handles peek over his broad shoulders. The man's black hair is neatly trimmed, leaving a section at the back of his head to flow down into a low ponytail. He lets the tail of hair rest over his right shoulder as he strides in like a ghost gliding over water.

Itachi leapt to his feet, standing protectively in front of Shizuka's bed. The young kunoichi also sits up, flicking out a kunai blade she found on the side of her bed. The two would never have recognized the man if it hadn't been for the long scar that trailed from the top of his right temple, touching the edge of his eye, over the side of his cheek and down his neck, disappearing into his blouse. It was the same man that had attacked them when the invasion had begun.

"Hokage_-sama_, stand back," Itachi said lowly. He winced when a shock of pain shot through his body, but he chose to ignore it. His stance lowered, swallowing back the itchy feeling of a cough, and he was about to pounce when the man took a step closer. "This is the same man that attacked Shizuka and me. He's the enemy and not to be trust–"

"Calm down, Itachi-_kun_," the Fourth Hokage stood up, and walked around the bed to place a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You shouldn't be moving around like that when you're injured. This man isn't a threat, and even if he was, I should be the one protecting the two of you."

The scarred man bowed his head in respect towards Konoha's leader. When he opened his mouth to speak, Shizuka remembered how thick his accent was, "Lord Fourth, it is an honor to speak with you."

'_Not...a threat?' _Shizuka furrowed her light eyebrows. '_But...how?!'_

Kushina placed her hand on top of Shizuka's, pushing the kunai down so that it now lay in her lap, "it's okay, Shi-_chan_. Don't worry, he came here to help your father with the Chunin Exams."

"With the exams?" Itachi whipped his head around at the Uzumaki. "How?" He took a moment to run the thoughts through his head. His eyes widened slightly when he realized it, "you mean...the invasion–"

"Was a false alarm, yes," the blonde Hokage nodded his head. "The Emperor of the Imperial Kingdom sent EnLai and his troops over to help with the test. Akio and I were talking about making this a very special year for the Chunin Exams, and it just so happened that the Emperor sent word to us. Knowing of the past hostilities with the Imperial Kingdom, we decided that an invasion would be a worthy test of your abilities."

"I brought a message with me and my troops," the scarred man spoke calmly, folding his tattooed arms over his chest. "He has told me to aid the Hokage in whatever way I can to further strengthen the relationship between our two countries."

"But...wasn't the Imperial Kingdom the ones who wanted to conquer the entire world? They were our enemies since the time of the First Hokage, right?" Itachi looked up between the two men in front of him.

Minato shakes his head, "that was until _I_ became Hokage. I sent a Hawk Message to the Emperor, asking him for an alliance."

"To which, His Majesty agreed."

"I'm sorry, what is your name again?" the red-haired woman crossed her arms, feeling left out of the conversation. "I'm pretty sure these two dear children know you as plainly '_The Man with the Scar'_ at the moment."

"My apologies, Lady Kushina," the scarred man bowed his head. Despite her blunt words, the man didn't seem offended at all. "The name given to me is EnLai."

"En...Lai?" Itachi looks up at the man who nods his head. The young Uchiha looks down in thought, trying to remember where he's heard that name before. "You mean...you're the Commander of the Imperial Army?"

EnLai chuckles, his voice filled with amusement. "You are quite knowledgable, young one. However, I am not the General Commander of the Imperial Army. I am but only the Commander of the 3rd Company."

"There are 6, aren't there?"

"Correct again, young Uchiha," EnLai nods his head. "One for each Royal Dragon."

While Itachi and EnLai are talking together about the Imperial Army, Shizuka forcefully tugs on her mother's dress's sleeves. Kushina turns to look at her daughter with care, "what's wrong, Shi-_chan_?"

'_Yuriko! What about her?'_

Shizuka opened her mouth, only to realize that no voice came with it. Minato watched the action from the corner of his eyes and was a bit shocked. He did his best to hide it, but couldn't help but wonder why his daughter had opened her mouth to talk, when she'd never tried to do so before.

"Calm down, Shi-chan, what's wrong?" Kushina looked at Shizuka, worry overtaking her violet eyes. The young genin reached her hand over, to write on top of her mother's arm. Where her finger touched, she left ink trailing over her arm. The words written on Kushina's arms were a bit messy, but she was able to tell what it said.

'_What about the Sand nin? What happened to them?!'_

"With the help of some of my healers, Miss Yuriko was nourished back to complete physical health," It was EnLai who had spoken. "The slash on her back will leave a deep scar, but it is nothing to be worried of. Her brother is at her side as we speak, caring for her since she has yet to open her eyes. As for the One-Tail's Jinchuriki..."

"He's being confined at the moment," Minato averted his gaze from his daughter, knowing that this news would upset her. "His transformation hasn't subsid–"

"Why did you tell her that?!" Kushina screeched, when a tear slipped from Shizuka's eyes. Her arms wrapped around her daughter in comfort. "She's just a child. She doesn't need to–"

"She is a kunoichi, a female shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves" EnLai cut in. "Please excuse my rude behavior, but your daughter needs to know news like this as a growing kunoichi."

Kushina glared at the man with fierce eyes. She probably would've punch him into next month if she hadn't been holding her small daughter.

Shizuka and Itachi exchanged glances, a silent conversation of eyes. He reached his hand up, and she took it. The young Uchiha prodigy looked up at the Hokage and the Commander, "we're going to see him."

The blond man was a bit taken aback by the boy's words, but the other man showed no emotion at his actions. EnLai took a step forward, closer to the group. "I'm sorry, but he is allowed no visitors. He is not a hospital patient."

"I don't care," Itachi snapped. "He's our friend and we have to help him!"

"He, too, is a shinobi," EnLai's silver eyes were stern, but not quite glaring. "Shinobi are the soldiers of the shadows. You protect and die without the world's knowledge of it. Your life is always meaningless to the mission you put into action."

All fell silent when the reality in EnLai's harsh words hit the ones in the room. The redhead opened her mouth to insult the man, but was stopped when he raised his hand.

"I have a plan for your daughter in the Final Stages of your Chunin Selection Examination," the scarred man leaned against the wall.

Itachi's hold on her hand tightened, "what do you mean, by the 'Final Stages'? What about the Second Test? Aren't there three?"

"Normally," the Fourth Hokage, sat himself back down on the edge of Shizuka's bed as she watched the conversation, "we would hold the Second Stage. But, because the numbers had been cut down drastically, there is no need. It's gone from 155 teams, to 8 promising candidates for Chunin Promotion."

EnLai points a finger to Shizuka's bedside. "I find it safe to presume that neither of you have read that card below the flowers."

Shizuka whips around, staring at the green card that was folded to stand up. Slowly, she reaches over to it and pulls it into her lap. On the outside of the card is the insignia of the Hidden Leaf printed plainly with a black brush. She opens it up, and inside is a congratulation letter:

* * *

Congratulations,

Uchiha Itachi

you have the promising skills to become Chunin.

A month from now, you will take part in the Final Battles of the Chunin Selection Examination this year along with 7 others.

You will have the decision of one fellow genin to aide you in your battle.

Rest well. Train well. I will look forward to seeing your battles at the Leaf Stadium in a month.

-Kagawa Akio-

* * *

Shizuka looked up at the man with wide-eyes. Seeing her shocked expression, Itachi reached over to take the card from her hands. However, he didn't need to look at it. When he had first woken up, Akio's clone had been there to question who he would bring with him to the final stage. However, what he did want to know, was how EnLai had known that he'd chosen Shizuka.

"And your plan is?" Kushina pushed the question further, while the two young genins were staring at each other in confusion.

"You see, the young Uchiha has chosen your daughter. Pardon me, but I witnessed that your daughter is extremely strong in the Chakra Element of water," EnLai explained. "You can take a piece of the paper from your chakra tree to test it if you do not believe me. As the Contractor of the Royal Water Dragon, I know this for a fact."

"Okay, I don't know, maybe you would... like to get to the point?" Kushina's voice is coated with sarcasm, due to her impatience.

If her pushing him annoyed him, EnLai didn't show it. "If your daughter would agree, I am willing to take her up as my apprentice in the way of the Water Dragon's Swords. It is the most ancient and most powerful fighting style of the Imperial Kingdom. The king's bodyguards have all mastered the way of the Dragon Swords. She is uniquely strong in the Water Spirits, which works out perfectly since I, too, am a servant of the Water Dragon."

Shizuka and Itachi exchanged glances again. Normally, the two of them would have preferred training together, but if it meant that she could improve even further, Shizuka would do anything. To be able to protect Itachi, _and_ Shisui–to protect her family, the village–Shizuka would do absolutely anything and everything.

She turned to the man, their silver eyes locking together, and she nodded.

* * *

The setting sun shined through the windows of the Academy. A small blonde boy, with whisker-like marks on his cheeks laid his head on his folded arms, staring out at the yard. The lesson had lost his attention as quickly as it had started, and the boy couldn't help but wonder when it would end. The boy on his right seemed to think in the same way. His bored eyes staring at his fingers as he pushed a pencil around the desk with a finger. The boy shook his head when he sighed, his spiky ponytail standing upright.

In the desk above the two, sat an equally bored Uchiha. He had already learned all these lesson with his tutor, so why did he need to sit through it now? He blew his black bangs up before resting his cheek in his hand. The young Uchiha turned his head to look out the window, his eyes lifted up in joy when he saw who it was waiting outside the Academy doors, by the old swing tied on the big old tree.

The raven-haired boy observed the trio standing underneath the tree with a big smile on his face, now he couldn't wait until class let out.

Leaning against the tree was a tall boy with his long, dark hair tied in a low ponytail. The boy's hair was laid over his shoulder neatly. The young Uchiha eyed the bandages tied around both of the boy's wrists. The bandages crawled up the boy's arms, underneath the mesh armor and the black short sleeves of his t-shirt. The shorts that the dark-haired boy wore also showed the bandages that were wrapped around his thin legs. He was dressed in the normal attire, the kind that told the younger boy that he wasn't going off on a mission. Knowing this, the boy couldn't be any happier.

Beside the swing, with one bandaged hand wrapped around the rope of the swing was another boy, taller than the first. His unkempt, black hair was as disheveled as always–sticking out this way and that. It was a trait that the younger boy had always hated, but no amount of complaining would make the older change it. This boy wore the traditional high-collared, short-sleeved black shirt of the Uchiha, along with black shorts. He wore his forehead protector over his forehead as always and streaks of dirt marked his face. His free hand was tucked into the pocket of his shorts and that same arm was wrapped up in bandages where spots of brown marked dried blood. Despite the bandages over his arms, the boy's smile was as bright as it always was.

Lastly, sitting in the swings with her feet on the dirt ground, was a rather small-looking girl with pure white hair. As white and pure as freshly fallen snow. Her body was also wrapped in bandages, curling around her arms and up her neck. The wrappings disappeared into the girl's black t-shirt. Like the first boy, she wore mesh armor underneath. Unlike the boys, she wore a skirt with white thread embroidering the edges. On her legs were also multiple bandages, but despite the painful-looking injuries, the girl's silver eyes seemed to shine with happiness as they always have.

A strong punch on the boy's shoulders brought the young Uchiha back from his thoughts. "Come on, slowpoke," it was the blonde boy who sat in front of him every day in class. The white-haired girl's younger brother. "They're waiting for us. I would've left you, but then Shizuka-nee-chan would've yelled at me."

"That's not even possible, idiot," the Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Your sister can't even speak."

"Well, you probably don't need a voice," the blond boy retorted. "'Cause all you ever say is '_I'm the incredible Sasuke!', 'Itachi is the coolest brother ever!', _ and blah, blah–ttebayo!"

"You're the one who doesn't need a voice," Sasuke puffed his cheeks, and the remaining girls in the classroom squealed. The blond turned around with a scowl and the former couldn't help but tease, "at least people _like _me better, Naruto."

"_Like_ you better? Who said Sakura-_chan_ likes _you_ more?!" Naruto growled.

"Who said anything about that Pinkie?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. The blond boy just let out an exasperated groan before stomping out of the classroom.

The young Uchiha stood up, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder before grabbing a homework scroll from the front door. He bowed goodbye to their sensei before darting out of the building, towards the big tree. Naruto was already hugging his sister in the swing while the boy holding onto the swing rope laughed.

"I am _not_ a baby, Shisui_-nii_!" Naruto yelled, while the laughing boy just ruffled his hair. He pursed his lips, when the older didn't stop. "When did _you_ get back anyway? Nee-chan told me you were off on a mission!"

"I got back today," Shisui laughed as he ruffled his hair even more. Naruto pushed the large hand away from his head, patting down his hair. "Besides, when I heard your sister was hurt, I rushed back. I won't forgive anyone who hurts her."

His tone was now serious as he looked down at the Academy student. Meanwhile, Sasuke sprinted over to the boy leaning against the tree. "Onii-san!"

Sasuke jumped into his brother's side as he approached, but the boy stood upright. Tall, strong and unmoving. Itachi looked down at his brother, an affectionate glaze over his eyes. "How was school today, Sasuke?"

The boy made a face, "I thought it was supposed to be playing. Aren't the lessons supposed to start when I turn 7?"

"Did Iruka-sensei visit you guys today?" it was Shisui. Sasuke turned to his older cousin with a frown and a nod. "That man sure knew how to give a lecture, no matter what age the listeners were."

A smirk played at the boy's lips when the white-haired girl on the swing hit his stomach. He feigned hurt before wrapping his arms around her.

"Ow, Shizuka, that hurt! Heal me!"

Shizuka rolled her silvery eyes at the remark before standing up with Naruto's arms around her waist. She takes Naruto's hand and begins to walk him over to the gates. The two siblings wave goodbye to the three Uchiha before disappearing through the small wooden gates.

Sasuke looks up at his brother eagerly, "training? We can go this time right? Right?"

The messy-haired boy glances between the two brothers with an interested glance. Shisui knew that expression all too well. Sasuke's eyes were shining, excited and full of anticipation. However, every time he asked, about 99 out of 100 times, Itachi would refuse the same way. He was about to open his mouth to tell his baby cousin that his brother had just gotten out of the hospital recently, but there was no need.

"No, not this time."

"You're always such a letdown," the younger pouted again. He turned around before stalking towards the wooden gates. The longer-haired Uchiha chuckled, catching Sasuke's attention.

"Sasuke," the called boy turned around to see his brother waving him over. A smile lit up his face and he darted back over. This time, he ran into two fingers. Rubbing the poked spot on his forehead, Sasuke's adorable pout was back.

"Nii-san!" he whined, but the older just gave him a small smile.

"_Yuruse_, Sasuke. Maybe next time."

* * *

A/N: Hey! It's been quite a while, hasn't it? I shouldn't try and make excuses anymore, I hope you guys liked this chapter! ^_^


	13. Ch 12: The Royal Dragon

Chapter 12: The Royal Dragon

* * *

"Close your eyes. Concentrate. Deep breaths."

Through her closed eyelids, Shizuka could picture her new sensei–or as he preferred to be called, Shifu–pacing in front of her. It was a trait that she found very calming. She peeked through one eye to see her, short-haired sensei with his arms crossed across his chest and pacing back and forth just as she imagined. The dual swords he had held since their very first meeting as "enemies" were on his back, crossed so that the handles peeked over his broad shoulders.

The man in front of her, caught her staring at him through his peripheral vision, "I said, close your eyes, Hisa–Shizuka." EnLai quickly corrected himself, shaking his head. Now that was a sight she didn't see very often. He cleared his throat. "Close your eyes and take in a deep breath. You have to feel yourself becoming one with the nature. Water is in the air, everywhere around you. To be able to take its power, you need to be able to become one with it."

Quickly, Shizuka snapped her eye shut. She felt herself slipping into sleep, when EnLai's rough voice caught her again.

"I said close your eyes, _not_ fall asleep."

She opened both of her eyes now, with a sigh. '_But Otou-san has never asked me to try meditating like this..._'

"Your _father_ has nothing to do with this," Shizuka pouted. This wasn't the first time that it seemed like he read her mind. Before she had found it frustrating that she had to spell out every single thought to people, but now she found it annoying that this man seemed to read her mind–every single thought, too.

She fell onto her back, letting her white-hair flow out onto the grass. Shizuka hadn't bothered to put up her hair this morning since EnLai had told her that this training wouldn't be harsh and would require no moving. Now, when sweat covered the back of her neck, Shizuka really couldn't help but wish she had brought a ribbon with her.

EnLai uncrossed his arms and sighed, before taking a seat in front of her. He crossed his legs, while he dug for something in his pockets. "Why don't I start with telling you about my swords?"

At the mention of his swords, the young girl's eyes brightened and she sat up almost immediately. The man chuckled at her eagerness as he tossed her a deep blue ribbon.

"I'm sure you're feeling hot, you can pull up your hair with this."

Shizuka happily snatched the ribbon before it blew away into the wind. She pulled her hair back before tying it up in a high ponytail. She left a few strands framing her face. She failed to notice how EnLai's eyes softened when she did so. By the time she was looking up at him with her hands on her ankles, the softness had disappeared.

"As I've told you," he spoke as he drew the twin swords from their sheaths on his back. "My two swords belong to the Dragon of the Sea and Storms."

The young girl nodded her head, having stopped counting how many times he'd told her in the span of 12 hours.

"_HaiLong_. The given name since our ancestors in the Imperial Kingdom, it means the Dragon of the Sea. There are five other Dragons of the elements, similar in name to your own chakra natures. However, your chakra nature transformations take on a different shape from our own six elements in the Imperial Kingdom. Unlike the five nature transformations of Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning and Earth, we have the six," EnLai held out his fingers as he counted. "The Sea, the Flames, the Earth, the Air, the Light and the Dark. Each element takes on the form of a dragon."

'_Are dragons male...or are they female?' _Shizuka pondered, pursing her lips slightly in her own thoughts.

"No one knows."

There it was again, his mind-reading tricks were really starting to bother her now. However, she did her best to hide it and not think about it for him to read. Her fingers fiddled with the three-pronged kunai she had brought with her this morning.

"Legend tells of the six dragons coming to our world and handing our ancestors six pieces of metal. Our six ancestors crafted those metals into our swords. All different styles in different sets. As you can see, the Swords of the Sea are twin swords, exactly alike in shape and appearance. It is believed that the metals given were formed from the scales of the elemental dragons," EnLai turned the swords over in his hands, the sunlight caught off the edges, making it shimmer. "That is why, only the Contractors of the Swords are able to contact the Dragons in a time of need."

'_And...'_ Shizuka blinked, listening intently to her new sensei.

"I'm getting there," the scarred man rubbed his unscarred temple. "That's what we'll do today. I will introduce you to the Dragon of the Sea before we start your training."

'_With the Dragon of the Sea?' _

"Yes..."

'_How do you do that?' _Shizuka asked in her mind, really testing it to see if he really was reading her mind.

EnLai looked at her, with slight confusion. He sheathed his swords before holding his hand out for her to take it, "do what?"

'_That!'_ With her suspicions proved right Shizuka threw her hands out in exasperation. _'It's like you're...you're...reading my mind!'_

"Take my hand," Shizuka marveled at how casually he dodged the subject as he beckoned her with two fingers and reluctantly, she placed them in his. "Close your eyes."

It felt like hours before he told her to open them again and when she did, she found herself in the same damp and cold room of her conscience. The floor was covered with water like it always was and that consistent dripping of water onto the floor persistently echoed in her mind. However, unlike all the other times she fell into her deep conscience, there was no gigantic, orange fox behind the large bars of a cage.

"You have quite a dark...mind," she turned around to see her Shifu standing there. His hands in his pockets. "I remembered it being a bit...brighter..."

"Huh?" Shizuka furrowed her eyebrows at his words. They were quiet, but she was sure she had heard him clearly. EnLai waved his hand dismissively.

"It's nothing..." He looked down at her, his silver eyes showed nothing of the emotions he was feeling. "Your voice..."

"My voice? What about it?" Shizuka's fingers twirled around each other nervously. "The fox told me I can use it in my conscience."

"It's kind of nostalgic. It reminds me of someone I once knew..." his voice trailed off, distant and lonely. "It's a shame that it's been sealed away. Your voice is actually...quite beautiful."

Shizuka held her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels while ignoring the continual dripping sound in the area. "I'm ready when you are, _shifu_."

He chuckled at her words, rubbing his scar lightly. His hands flashed through several seals, so fast that Shizuka had been unable to follow with her eyes. Automatically, she activated her eyes. Her silver irises fading to black while a red line swirled around her eyes. The upper outer quadrants of her irises were boxed out by two dark green lines instead of light ones.

EnLai almost choked on his breath when he saw the eyes. They were familiar, yet they were a strangers. He shook his head, to shake the thought away. '_There's no way,'_ he thought. _'She died several years ago.._'

"_**Dragon of the Sea and of the Storms. I request of an audience from you, for a worthy apprentice has appeared in this life,**" _EnLai chanted in an unfamiliar language. Shizuka blinked as she listened. The words he spoke, sounded like a song with their different tones. It was the graceful language of the Imperial Kingdom.

As he continued his chant, Shizuka watched as the water from the ground became thinner and thinner until she was standing on damp concrete. The water taken from the floor gathered together and a dragon's form began to take place. Its long, snake-like body curled around. It casted an aura of royalty and power as its eyes began to take shape with its horns and it' sharp teeth. With the dragon came a bright, clear light that lit up the room like the light of a full moon.

"_**EnLai**,_" its voice sounded overlapped by both a male's and a female's, making it impossible to tell if the creature was male or female. "**_You called for me?_**"

Shizuka watched as her teacher slowly knelt and bowed his head. "**_Yes, my lord._**"

"**_And this worthy apprentice of yours?_**" The dragon's body shimmered, it wasn't fully put together, just a body of water in the shape of a dragon, its scales were fluid and glimmering. "**_Is it this young girl here? She knows not of our customs_.**"

"_**I will teach her. I believe that she is worthy of a contract to you.**"_

Shizuka's eyes watch as the dragon's mouth doesn't move, but the fluid words of the foreign language flows through her mind like a stream. EnLai continues to speak in the unknown language, but what was strange, was that she felt that she could pick up bits and pieces of the conversation.

"**_She is..._**"

"**_She reminds you of your sister and her daughter, no?_**" Shizuka watches as EnLai's expression changes to one of surprise. His silvery eyes are wide with shock, a very unusual sight from his normal facade. She continues to follow the dragon's words without understanding exactly what the two were saying. "_**You cannot hide such things from your Contractor, EnLai. However, I agree that she bears great resemblance to little Sako and her mother. No one has had such a powerful connection with the Water Spirits since...** _**him_. And in all honesty, his heart was more compelling to the Spirits than your own, EnLai._**"

EnLai's expression seems to change to one of sorrowful pain and he shakes his head and opens his mouth to respond, but the Dragon doesn't give him enough time to reply.

"_**She is strong with the nature of water. The spirits yearn for her power and personality, that much I can tell you,**" _the Dragon nods its head. The movement is slight, but Shizuka caught it. _"**Never before, have any of my siblings and I written a contract with two users, but I will make an exception with your... immortality.**"_

"**_I give you my greatest thank–_**"

"There is no need," the Dragon now speaks in the language that Shizuka has spoken in the past several years, a familiar tongue of the majority of the Hidden Villages. "Shizuka," she looks up at the dragon and something else forms from more water. This time, the water solidifies into a large scroll. The scroll unravels to reveal the names and blood prints of past contractors. "Once you sign this scroll and print your hand in your own blood, I will be contracted to you and you will be able to use the swords without your chakra harmed. This scroll is similar to those contract scrolls in your shinobi world. However, I, myself, am not a Dragon summon."

Hesitantly, Shizuka kneels down on the damp floors as the scroll is laid in front of her. She looks over to EnLai for guidance, but the man just nods his head once without a word. Slowly, Shizuka's bites into her thumb, releasing a thick stream of her blood. She grits her teeth at the pain that shoots through her arm after she does so. Quickly, Shizuka signs her name and touches each finger to her bleeding thumb. Once she's done, she firmly places her fingertips underneath her signature, following EnLai's example in the column before.

Just as she finishes signing it, the scroll disappears in a poof of smoke, quicker than when it first appeared. Shizuka's eyes trail upward, the water that made the Dragon's tail begins to drip back onto the floor, taking the dragon apart.

"I look forward to working with you, Shizuka."

And in the next second, the Dragon is completely gone, along with the bright, blue glow. EnLai stood up, towering over Shizuka's smaller body. His arms were crossed, a usual, across his broad chest. He held out a hand towards her, "why don't we head back, get our training started."

His smile was light and friendly, and Shizuka couldn't help but smile back as she put his smaller hand into his larger one. She closed her eyes, remembering the clean cut grass and the river that flowed nearby. In the next second, the flow of the streams were much louder and she opened her eyes. Her silver eyes glanced down at her arms to see two light blue dragons curling around her arms. But unlike EnLai's tattoos, hers are even fainter, a light blue that is almost a ghostly white.

The Imperial Commander stands up from his spot and Shizuka's eyes watch as he drags his arm across his body, and suddenly, like a whip, water appears. It curls around his bare arm like a series of decorative bracelets.

"First Lesson: Dragging water out of the air. It's a basic skill when bonded with the Water Dragon."

When evening finally comes around, Shizuka is barely able to maintain a small orb of water, the size of a large marble. Frustrated in her minimal progress, the 10-year-old kunoichi drops to her knees in the clean cut grass.

"Calm yourself," EnLai stood over her with an uncharacteristic chuckle. "This skill took me years to master, yet you've already gotten a lot of progress."

Shizuka tries to catch her breath as she watches her _shifu_ juggle orbs of water the size of a Chakra Capture's ball. She glares at him through her long eyelashes, finding his spectacle a teasing insult.

He let the orbs dissolve into thin air and crosses his arms again. "I did say that you've made a lot of progress since the beginning of the day. Your soul is especially strong in the Water Spirits."

'_So...?'_ she pouted. '_It's not like it's gonna be enough for me in the Chunin Exams...'_

EnLai shook his head and tapped his fingers rhythmically on his arms. He let out a sigh, "that's not the entire point. You'll get a lot stronger if you keep making progress like this anyway. It doesn't look like much now, but it will change in three weeks."

Shizuka scrunched up her nose at the thought and sprawled out onto the ground. She blew the baby strands of her hair up off of her forehead and a soft chuckle sounded in her ears. Sitting up, Shizuka watched as her _shifu_ looked over to the river with the kind of smile that would naturally come after laughter. She thought of how his attitude had changed from the moment they had stepped into Training Field 26. What was first a cold and formal Imperial Commander with a battle scar, was now a looser man with a playful smile.

EnLai turned to her, his smile still present on his lips. The setting sun made his silver eyes glow a warm orangish color. He looked down at her with an emotion she couldn't read, as he beckoned her to stand up with two fingers. "Come on, let's get you home."

Shizuka and EnLai walked beside each other in silence as they walked through the busy streets of nighttime Konoha. The smaller white-haired girl turned her head as she looked from shop to shop, noticing this, the scarred man turned around, "are you looking for something?"

She looked up at her new sensei with a shake of her head, but continued to look around the area. It wasn't until she stopped in front of a shop with a large purple sign that read "Yamanaka Flowers" that EnLai raised an eyebrow.

"Flowers?"

She stared up at the sign before walking into the shop without even giving her sensei a look. Once inside, Shizuka was greeted by an extremely bored looking Yamanaka. He blew his pale blonde bangs up before letting it fall flat on the metal plate of his forehead protector. His arms propping his chin up was wrapped in bandages like her.

"Welcome to the Yamanaka's Flower Shop..." the boy spoke in a monotone voice. "Might I introduce you to these new flow–oh, Shizuka!"

The boy's eyes were suddenly filled with excitement when he saw his fellow graduate. He hoped off of his chair at the counter and dashed over to the girl. Following behind him was a much smaller girl, whose equally blond hair brushed against her bare shoulders. She wore an orange tank top with thin straps and black shorts. A bluish green hair clipped held back her bangs on the left side of her head.

Shizuka looked behind him with raised eyebrows, as if to ask who the girl was. The boy looked behind him, "oh! This is my baby cuz, Ino."

Ino looked up at Shizuka and pointed, "your hair is white. Inoki-nii, it's white, right? Why?"

"Uhm...because she was born that way...?" The older Yamanaka chuckled nervously and shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, Ino, Shizuka; Shizuka, my cousin, Ino. Now you two have met. Anyway, where have you been all day? The boys and I were looking all over with you."

The white-haired girl just shrugged her shoulders and jerked her head subtly at the man behind her. Inoki looked up at the man to see him rubbing his scar as he looked around the shop. His eyes landed back on his friend just as she pointed at the flowers around the room.

"Well–"

"We have these new flowers today, Shizuka-nee!" Ino interrupted her cousin, taking the small girl's hand and dragging her over to the display box. "I think you'll like them."

The taller, blond blinked his eyes, "it's like they suddenly became best friends..." he muttered as he trailed after them.

The Imperial Commander continued to glance around the room, slowly walking after the three young kids. EnLai followed the three into a cooler where the fresh flowers were being kept. Ino had dragged her cousin's friend to a batch of bright yellow daffodils. The scarred man watches as Shizuka kneels down to choose one of the flowers. His eyes soften when he realizes he's still thinking about his sister.

'_She just looks so much like her..._'

"Just one? Are you sure, _Onee-san_?" Ino gently took the beautiful flower from the older girl's fingers. "Is it for someone special?"

EnLai watched the white-haired girl as she nodded her head with a small smile. The blond boy, who had calmed down quite considerably, opened a drawer in the cashier desk. He pulled out a plain white card with the word '_Get Well Soon_' printed on the cover. "If this is for Haru, the others and I put a card together. That's why we were looking for you today."

Opening the card, Shizuka couldn't help but smile at the many messages already written inside:

'_I heard you saved my friends. I don't know you very well, but I hope you get well soon. You're a very special person. Especially if my lil' cuz, Itachi, praises you._

_-Shisui.'_

_'This is really troublesome...but really, thanks. If it weren't for you, everyone else probably would've been in worse shape. Hope you get better. _

_-Shikato.'_

_'We really miss you, Haru's Bodyguards can't be what they are if there's no Haru, ya know...idiot, getting yourself hurt like that... I told you it was a bad idea to go for the Chunin Exams this year..._

_-Yuriko'_

_'To get some things straight, Yuriko up there hurt herself, too, so don't go beating yourself up over it. Just work on getting better. Like she said, we can't be your bodyguards if you're not here. The team isn't the team if you're not there..._

_-Ren'_

_'I'm blind, as you know. Even though someone else is writing this for me, know that these are my sincere words: I can't thank you enough for helping us that night. If it weren't for you, I would have been helpless. _

_-Shiki.'_

A smile crept up on Shizuka's face as she read the little notes from her various friends. Even Ran and Katsu had signed. After giving it some thought, Shizuka drew her finger across the paper, letting the ink flow onto it. Inoki watched in surprise, dropping the pen he was intending to give her into its holder. He had never seen her use such a jutsu before.

Finishing up her own message, Shizuka dug around in her pocket for something, pulling out a black leather bracelet with a metal clasps and metal plate in the center. On the metal piece was an engraving, filled in with black ink. The design was a small circle within a larger, broken one with three lines flowing out of the smaller one and intersecting the larger one. She put it on top of the closed card and handed it to Inoki, but the blond boy shook his head.

"You have the connections," he smirked with crossing his thin, bandaged arms. "You give it to him. Oh, and the flower too."

Shizuka looked down at little Ino, who held out the yellow daffodil she had picked, wrapped up in a plain light green wrapper. Her blue eyes shined with the childish happiness Shizuka often found in Naruto and Sasuke.

Inoki chuckled as she took the flower from the smaller girl slowly and curled the leather bracelet around the stem, just above the single leaf on it. Shizuka looked at the mischievous Yamanaka who only waved her along. She turned around, leading her forgotten sensei out the door.

The Commander of the Imperial army raised an eyebrow at his student when her expression seemed to have lifted up considerably, "and who's the flower for?"

The white-haired girl only looked up with her usual bright smile, '_Haru, of course.'_


End file.
